


Just the Right Amount of Wrong

by Shawn30



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Erotica, F/M, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 15:25:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 42,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1174691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shawn30/pseuds/Shawn30
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It doesn't matter if I want you. It doesn't even matter if I love you. What matters is that now you know how it feels to have the most important thing in the world to you threatened." - Kimberly Hart</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Time of Our Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: Everything up to and including the end of Dino Thunder. All else is explained and is my AU.
> 
> Disclaimer: Saban owns it all again. If that's a good thing or not remains to be seen.
> 
> Authors Notes: The epilogue is written by my good friend, rapunzl. 
> 
> ~~~~~~
> 
> "There are four questions of value in life... What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for, and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love."  
> ~~ Unknown Author
> 
> ~~~~~~

The Mojave Desert  
Saturday, Jan, 9, 2007  
1:00 AM  
Northwestern Arizona  
The United States  
  
  
  
"Home sweet home," Kimberly quietly mused with no small amount of wonder as the sleek Black Raven Zord burst through Earth's upper atmosphere, cutting a swath through billows of thick white clouds before a full moon.  
  
A homemade mixtape of music by Avril Lavigne, Lincoln Park, Train, Justin Timberlake, Amy Winehouse, Fergie, and Norah Jones serenaded her return to Earth from the other side of the galaxy. As ever, her mood was varied as her musical interests. With her flight path indicator engaged, she set the Zord on autopilot so she could mentally catch her breath after insanity of the last couple of days.  
  
Blazing towards the West Coast of the United States after four straight days off-world, interior design consultant Kimberly Hart enjoyed a deep swell of pride that her vaunted piloting skills hadn't waned in the many years since she last went on a Ranger mission. Though last minute and extremely dire in nature, this assignment had more to do with who didn't go than her specific participation. At least on a personal level to her.  
  
Thundering over the seemingly endless dirt roads of the sprawling desert, in the distance to the east she caught sight of the sinful glow of Las Vegas. While to the west she made out the bright lights of the City of Angels. Both held the promise of adventure and evasions of her worries. She could almost envision disappearing for a few days more... But deep down her anger still burned, and no doubt the same was waiting for her when she saw Tommy again.  
  
He was likely furious with her.  
  
The Galactic Ranger Alliance, a new organization of nineteen former Earth Rangers and eleven new ones from across the stars was formed barely two years ago by Dulcea. Gathered together to face an increasingly volatile, unpredictable time in history as evil rose from one end of the galaxy to the other to threaten peace.  
  
Prevention. Protection. Poise. Perseverance. The Galactic Ranger Alliances oath of honor. Formed to combat evil and keep the peace wherever it was needed.  
  
Billy designed, and with great aid from the United States government and U.N built an Earth base of operation in the Arizona desert. Code-named 'The Little House,' it took one thousand planetary engineers nine months to hollow out, and then teleport in the one mile long infrastructure that would house this new base of operations. The former Blue Ranger was named leader of the Earth faction and quickly began reaching out to many former Rangers to gauge interest. While some were interested, the vast majority had gone on with their personal lives, far removed from their days of power.  
  
But all swore they would be there if the need arose.  
  
Having graduated from college and relocated back to the West Coast, Kim was firmly entrenched in her promising career and had long since made peace that her Ranger days were behind her. Of course the last year, with all its unexpected surprises reunited her with her ex-high school boyfriend. And when she learned he had turned down Billy's offer, she was genuinely shocked. She thought for sure he would never see the day where the allure for adventure was lost on him.  
  
Or that his presence would stir her heart once more.  
  
Thinking of him now as she soared over the moon-lit landscape of the Mojave desert left her bitterly anxious to tear into him. To lord her success and skill in his face. And to know she hurt him as badly as he had hurt her.  
  
And still her heart ached to see him again. Missed the strong assurance of his arms around her. The warmth of his body in her bed...  
  
Tommy Oliver was the biggest fucking question mark in her life.  
  
Suddenly her on-board comm-link awakened. 'Ms. Hart, please confirm your personal Security Protocol Code?'  
  
Adjusting her head-set slightly to the right, she replied, "Raven 999-4544-Omega 1. Request permission to land. A hot meal would be nice too." She heard a light chuckle on the other end.  
  
'Will do, Ms. Hart. Your code has been authenticated. Welcome home.'  
  
"Catch ya on the flip side." As she throttled the long-winged Raven Zord into her final descent, the comm-link chimed in once more.  
  
'One last thing, Ms. Hart. You have a visitor in Hanger Bay 12. Mr. Tommy Oliver is waiting for you.'  
  
A scowl fell over her face as she offered no reply. Easing power to her thrusters, using the Zord's forward jets to slow down, the very ground beneath her shifted fifty-feet as columns of smoke rose and tracking lights emerged skyward. Massive blast doors were revealed, and then parted as the Black Raven Zord slowly descended inside the gigantic hidden base.  
  
At the controls, Kimberly vertically angled the Zord's long wingspan as her landing gear  
engaged. The circular skid she came to rest her Zord upon revealed additional floor clamps that secured the vessel. Air-pressure produced a whizzing noise that quickly faded as the cockpit opened.  
  
Clad in a form-fitting black flight suit, her hair in a loose ponytail, Kim emerged. Declining the five-step ladder, she leapt from the cockpit, twirled in mid-air and hit a perfect landing. Just a little nod to her gymnastics days of yesteryear. Rising to a roar of cheerful engineers and grounds crew, she blew them a flirty kiss and smiled.  
  
As the moment passed and the grounds-crew returned to their duties, a last round of slow applause caught her attention from behind. In the expansive hanger bay filled with worker droids, experimental Zords in varying stages of construction, stealth starships, and vehicles that were being prepped for missions, she turned to find the source of her adulation emerging from the shadows.  
  
A stone-faced Tommy Oliver stood there in all his pissed off glory. Faded jeans, dark boots, and a black print t-shirt. All muscles and attitude, everywhere. This was one fight inevitable Kim was waiting for. Her voice was the very definition of sarcasm. "Miss me?"  
  
"You disappeared four fucking days ago without a trace!" he snarled angrily at her, barely able to move as the need to drink in the very sight of her alive warred with the urge to  
strangle her. "What the hell were you thinking? You just disappeared from the apartment without a trace! How could you possibly do that without telling me?"  
  
Kimberly glared at him, and then spun on her heel to tap her hand on the left side of Zord's underbelly. A side compartment opened, revealing a large dark-blue Nike duffel bag she quickly gathered. "The nerve of you to ask me that when you and the Good Ole Boys gang went on a Red Rangers-only mission a few years back and never told anyone," she railed right back at him, enjoying his shocked expression. "Yeah, I know all about it now. I've only known for a week though. You and Jason risked your lives on an extremely dangerous mission with other former Reds and just decided none of us needed to know or were worthy of even having a hand in protecting the fucking world we live on too. Newsflash, jackass! If the Earth is destroyed I don't exactly have a condo on Mars to go live in. And since I was a part of protecting this planet even before you were, I was pretty damn pissed off to overhear you and Jase giggling like schoolgirls over your great adventure. You know, the one you never told anyone about. The secret one that was really important." She turned to face him, her expression tense and clearly hurt. "Now tell me again why you're mad at me?"  
  
Her unexpected revelation was like a punch to his gut. Several in fact. Guilt gnawed away at him, but his anger remained. He was operating on zero sleep for nearly two days, worried sick over her. Wired and so damn frustrated he was shaking. "Things were... different. We weren't roommates back then. We hadn't made any promises to each other."  
  
"That's such a bullshit excuse. And apparently since we did make that one promise to each other, you didn't feel the need to tell me about your mission beforehand. Or trust me. But rest assured word has spread and a number of people aren't very happy with you right now." She watched him swallow hard, deep in the back of his throat. He was so mad at her it was kinda sexy. Problem was she still wanted to smack him in the face. "Look, I've had a long couple of days. So can we continue this, oh, I don't know, never?!"  
  
Grimacing with restrained pain, Tommy advanced towards her. "The Galactic Alliance wanted me for this mission. I was their first choice."  
  
"To bad I stepped in and offered my services."  
  
"You disabled my emergency communicator!"  
  
"So you're saying I cheated you out of a chance to play hero and save the world? Are you the king of the hypocrites or what?"  
  
"Dammit, Kim!" he swore at her, so overwhelmed with emotion his heartbeat filled his ears. "I didn't know where you were for four whole days! I was worried sick about you. And just before I called the police Billy stepped in and told me you were on a secret off-world mission on the other side of the damn galaxy. But he wouldn't give me any details. Fuck, you could of died out there and then..."  
  
As his voice cracked and trailed off she recognized the sheer dread and intense fear in  
his eyes. Felt his caring even as she struggled to remind herself why she was so furious with  
him. This man never ceased to make her feel something. "Would you have gone on the mission if Billy reached you first?"  
  
Blinking, Tommy had to admit it was an honest question. One worth considering. "I would have talked to you about it, at least."  
  
"Well that's more than you did before your 'Forever Dumb-ass' mission."  
  
Tommy gritted his teeth, "When we moved in together we promised each other we were done with the Ranger life and everything that came along with it. We promised each other."  
  
Fire erupted behind her eyes as they faced off. And she was particularly bitter about what she was going to say. "You aren't my boyfriend or my husband. You're not even my lover," she bitched at him with venom.  
  
Breathing heavily, Tommy suddenly wanted to slam his fist into the nearest wall. "I should still fucking matter to you."  
  
His words were hard, and she had hurt him. Deep down she knew what she meant to him. So much was left unsaid between them. Was just never the right time. And only in the last three weeks were they finally so damn close to... But when she found out about that damn Red mission and how he never told her she worried if there were other secrets he'd kept from her. "I heard you and Jason laughing about how you'd kept your little secret all these years."  
  
Peering away briefly, Tommy sighed with regret. "I was wrong to not tell you."  
  
"Or the others who didn't know. Or to even go without as much help as you could muster. But I guess us girls or non-Red ex Rangers just weren't in the in-crowd." A bitter tone caught her voice. "As always the great and powerful Tommy Oliver ensures things move only according to his grand design."  
  
Tommy knew she was as hurt as she was angry. Her voice betrayed such emotion. His gaze pierced into hers. "Why did you go on this mission?"  
  
"To prove to you and myself that I am every bit as capable as you are." After a quiet moment, she admitted softly, "And to hurt you."  
  
"Mission accomplished." A silent pause settled between them as they gazed at one another. "You're a good pilot."  
  
"I'm the best pilot breathing."  
  
"You're the best pilot breathing if I hold my breath."  
  
"You're an arrogant jerk."  
  
"No, that would be your ex-boyfriend."  
  
"Of which that club also includes you."  
  
"I meant your recent ex-boyfriend."  
  
He still wore green pretty damn well. As a Ranger and his obvious jealousy over her recently ended relationship with Greg. She enjoyed a little smile. "He wasn't Mr. Right, but he was great in bed."  
  
Going there only pissed him off more. She could tap dance on his nerves like no one else. "Since he dumped you, I guess that doesn't say much about your skills in the sack. Now does it."  
  
"Your last four girlfriends have all gave you your walking papers. So what does that say about yours."  
  
"... Kat still comes back every now and then... when she's got an itch she needs me to scratch."  
  
Kim sucked in a deep breath as he invaded her personal space. Ever mindful of his superior height, she had to tilt her head back to look in his eyes. "Have I told you lately how much I love your ego. Not!"  
  
Seeking some sense of calm, Tommy gently placed his hands on her slender shoulders, looking into her eyes. For a moment he just reveled in the fact that she was alive and in front of him. That he could physically touch her. That he hadn't lost her forever. "Are you alright?"  
     
If he kissed her she wouldn't pull away. No matter how petty they're fighting got he still touched her heart like no man ever had before. But she still wanted to punch him in the face. "Peachy. I flew a highly radioactive alien-device through a dangerous asteroid belt the length of Texas and made a collapsing black hole go Kablooey! Saved about twenty-nine billion people across five worlds. All in a days work."  
  
He was proud and jealous all at the same time. "I hate you did this after our promise."  
  
"I hate you never told me the truth!" her voice rose, her gaze pointed. "And I hate that instead of sitting down and talking with you, I wanted you to know what its like to have all choice taken away from you. To know that you were a second-hand thought and no matter what you'd done or accomplished in the past, you weren't needed this time." When his hands gently fell away she instantly missed the connection. He was as lost as she was, coupled with all that was unsaid between them. "So now what?"  
  
"Two wrongs don't make a right?"  
  
"But they damn sure make it even."  
  
Towering over her, Tommy shook with emotion. How could she not see what this was really about? He snarled, "It would have killed me if something happened to you!"  
  
"DON'T YOU GET IT!" she shouted in his face, and then exhaled deeply to try and not make a bigger scene than they already had. She battled tears at this point, but not one fell. She wouldn't allow it. "If something would have happened to you... even back then and where we were... you still mattered to me. And when I heard you and Jason laughing about it I just snapped."  
  
She continued, venom lacing her tone, "I won't pretend that I did the right thing. I didn't. I did the 'I'm pissed and fuck you' thing. But I also wanted you to finally stay away from this life. You're always the one that comes back. Always! And I've been the one that's stayed away. But for once I was able to... I don't know, protect you from all of this insanity. And I wanted to do that."  
  
Tommy's gaze fell, his hands now lost in his pockets. In her own way she was trying to look after him. To keep him safe. When he reached for her, she pulled away, backing off. She was far more furious with him than he had realized. "Kim, I..."  
  
Her right hand lifted, cutting him off. "It doesn't matter if I want you. It doesn't even matter if I love you. What matters is that now you know how it feels to have the most important thing in the world to you threatened."  
  
A world of meanings, both hidden and otherwise, laced her parting shot. Tommy watched her walk off, distancing herself from him. He thought better than to chase after her when she was this mad. The former White Ranger's voice caught in his throat as he searched for answers on what to do next with  
Kimberly Hart.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
******  
  
  
The Catalina Bar  
4766 Clairemont Mesa Blvd  
Saturday, Jan, 9, 2007  
2:30 AM  
San Diego, California  
  
  
  
After a final deep draw, Kim set her empty Heineken down on the wood-stained bar counter. Her dark brown eyes glossed over the wet droplets of moisture cascading down the chilled bottle as Matchbox 20 played her in the background. Two down and however many to go until she felt better. "Have I mentioned how much I hate men?"  
  
Grinning, the blond bartender from behind the counter replied, "Repeatedly."  
  
"Good," Kim nodded. "I like being consistent." The former Pink Ranger glanced up at the San Diego Chargers wall-clock behind the well-stocked bar. The late hour coupled and that she was one of the last four people still here laughed at her. But she was feeling sucky and just didn't want to be home tonight. "Get me a Screwdriver on the rocks."  
  
"Gotcha." Lena quickly poured the Vodka over a glass of ice and OJ while wondering what an obviously attractive young woman like her customer was doing at a bar this late. Minus a wedding band and companion tonight, it was doubtful she was here looking for a hook-up. Just didn't seem the type. Then again, everyone had issues and problems these days. Being a thirty-eight year old bartender wasn't exactly where she thought her life would go either. "So do you hate men in an overall sense, or is one in particular driving you batty?"  
  
Kim's eyes lifted. "Is it that obvious?"    
  
Lena laughed while sliding Kim her drink. "When you've been behind a bar as long as I have you learn to pick up certain clues. And while you don't seem like the kind of person to think you're above this place, I'd bet my paycheck most of your late nights aren't spent at a bar bitching about men."  
  
Good observation, and the compliment was appreciated. Kim grazed her red fingernails over the bar wood-stained counter just cause. "His name is Thomas James Oliver. Tommy for short," she began. "He's my ex-boyfriend from... a very long time ago."  
  
Exes tended to come with leftover emotions from time to time. Lena's ex-husband came to mind, though she pushed the thought of that jerk far away. "Were you deeply in love? And yeah, I'm probing. Its how we eventually get great tips from our awesome alcohol-induced psychological advice."  
  
The former Pink Ranger could only laugh at that one. She liked Lena already. "Duly noted and yes..." she considered fondly, remembering them once upon a time. "Teenage love was in the air. But I never forgot him, you know." Lena nodded in understanding. "I went on with my life and he went on with his. College came and went. Time passed and we were states apart. Life just went on as it does."  
  
The wistful tone of her voice spoke volumes to Lena. She made herself a Mojito. "Bad break-up?"  
  
Staring into her drink, Kim knocked back a third of it in one shot, and then set it back down. "I cheated. It was all on me. Was young and dumb at the time. And I didn't handle it very maturely. I know I hurt him a great deal." An old hurt suddenly reawakened, a phantom pain from yesteryear.  
  
Lena wiped the counter clean with a towel, and then tossed it behind her in a hamper. Having loved and lost, she was well versed in the ways of heartbreak and how life just ran you over sometimes. "Shit happens. Especially when we're young and just trying to figure it all out. Now that's no excuse for hurting people, but life goes on."  
  
"Yeah..." she noted softly.  
  
"But he eventually forgave you, right?"  
  
"Eventually, I mean after enough time passed and we talked things out. I apologized and we started a new friendship. This was nearly seven years ago," Kim explained while nursing her glass. "We've been in a good friendship for a long time since then. I'm talking years. Neither of our birthdays go by without a call and a gift. Same for Christmas and New Years."  
   
She definitely had that look in her eyes. Lena knew the signs all to well of when a woman was still holding a torch. When the fire was still there, burning just below the surface. "So tell me about this Tommy guy?"  
  
Tell her about Tommy? Kim smiled and then frowned and then shook her head and then rolled her  
eyes. She might of even blushed a little. He was so many different things to her. A kaleidoscope of emotions and feelings.  
  
"Tommy is a lovable pain in my ass," was her first mildly sarcastic remark. "He's loyal and trustworthy and you know you can count on him no matter what happens. He's a great teacher and is one of the most courageous people I have ever met. He has a certain kind of sense of humor, but I like it. He can be moody and an ass sometimes, but he's a good man in many, many ways. Got a hero complex a mile long," she said wearing a smile. "He's also a tiny bit full of himself. His over-confidence borders on arrogant and sometimes I just want to run him over with my car," she snickered, "But he's a sweetheart and a complete dick at the same time."  
  
Lena's smile widened. "Is he hot?"  
  
"Outrageously so." Her new bartender pal laughed at that one. "He could care less about it, but he's very hot."  
  
"Great in bed?" Lena just had to know.  
  
At that, Kim downed the rest of her entire drink, enjoying the burn. Her heel tapping at the bar-stools ring. As if that question wasn't tied to her immense frustration as well. "I wouldn't know. We've never had sex." The bartender seemed shocked. Join the freaking club walked through Kim's mind. "Tommy and I are complicated."  
  
"Does he have a penis where his penis should be?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Then it ain't that complicated, honey?" Lena snickered, pulling up her stool closer. "So what aren't you telling me that makes you hate him tonight?"  
  
Pushing her glass away while silently declining another with a wave of her hand, Kim figured she'd better start from the beginning. More to the point, their second beginning. "Six months ago Tommy sold his house and moved out here to San Diego where he's opening his first martial arts academy. He was a high school teacher and paleontologist in Reefside, but now he’s ready to teach the martial arts again. It's his passion."  
  
"Business man, huh? Me likey."  
  
"So he found a condo, moved in, and then through a funny little cooking mishap ended up burning the three-story building to the ground in a kitchen fire. Thankfully no one was hurt."  
  
Lena blinked. "... and just like that he sounds creepy."  
  
Kim chuckled. "He needed a place to crash right away and my place was the closest. I offered him my extra bedroom as my ex-roommate Kyle moved in with his new boyfriend. I lost his half of the rent, my in-house hair stylist, and expert drink maker all wrapped in one. But seeing as I now needed the other half of the rent, I decided in my infinite wisdom to ask Tommy to move in for a year. Now mind you, he doesn't need the cash, but I wanted to save for a year for myself."  
  
Her brows rose sharply. "So he's rich?"  
  
"I'd say very well off. A very, very generous monetary gift from a good friend he 'helped' save the life of once upon a time."  
  
"Is he gay?"  
  
"Nope. Girls tend to fall at his feet."  
  
"All except you?"  
  
Kim recalled the utterly embarrassing moment of fainting when she found out he was the White Ranger. Not her finest moment, no matter how genuine it was. "... I wasn't totally immune."  
  
So her guy was outrageously hot, rich, trustworthy, a businessman, and a good person? Lena kept searching for the problems here. "He got kids?"  
  
"Nope. Not one."  
  
"Drugs? Drinking? Gambling?"  
  
"Triple no."  
  
"Violent to women?"  
  
"Never."  
  
"Continue."  
  
Craning her neck about to a soothing snap, Kim sighed. "So he moves in and we have separate bedrooms and... its like, you really get to know a person when you live with them. You pick up on all kinds of stuff and I really wanted to choke him after the first week. But I didn't do it. I slowly began to accept his obsessive need to work out at 6:00 AM every single freaking day! He left the toilet seat up and I almost fell in three times. And he uses my body wash and doesn't think I know... but I know," she pointed to her nose.  
  
Lena winced. "My boyfriend sometimes does that too. Its weird."  
  
"And my deodorant when his runs out. Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman my ass," she smirked. "And then he will leave two sips of milk in the gallon container and put it right back in the refrigerator. His idea of doing laundry is washing, drying, and tossing all of it on the couch. He won't fold anything, ever. And if you go under his bed I'm sure there’s a dimensional gateway to some world filled with socks that don't match and white boxers."  
  
"Dimensional gateway?"  
  
Kim mentally reminded herself everyone didn't speak 'Ranger-geekyness.' "Never mind that. I am going to stab him at some point is the point. There will be a TV show one day about men who have pushed women to far. They will call it 'Snapped'. And I will be on the season premier."  
  
Laughing softly to herself, Lena could hear it all in her voice. And the look on her face. This was her guy. She just hadn't let herself accept it yet. "So you guys still got along, right?"  
  
Kim gave a wistful nod. "Yeah, we made it work. Found a rhythm that made living together a little less than hellish. We entertain each other," she smiled while looking down. "We make each other laugh. We fight like cats and dogs and then forget it the next minute. We like the same restaurants. We like spending time together. When I get mad at him I usually throw a shoe or two at his head. He never throws it back. That's a positive."  
  
Lena gave a light-hearted nod. "So either of you dating anyone?"  
  
"He had a few dates when he first moved in. Fewer seconds. A third or two at best. As for me, I wasn't seeing anyone until three months ago when I met this guy named Greg at the gym. Then Tommy and I really began to fight. He hated Greg."  
  
"Its because he loves you."  
  
Kim's mouth opened to quickly reply. To defy even. To smack that statement down with the fury. But as she met Lena's green gaze the words died on her tongue. Deep down, she knew. Still, she was defiant. "He's never said it."  
  
"Have you?"  
  
"...I was dating someone."  
  
"Why? Its so obvious you're in love with Tommy."  
  
Damn stranger telling her truths she wasn't ready to face. Kim shrank a bit into her bar-stool. "I'm going to need another drink."  
  
Lena shook her head. "Lets get to the bottom of this first. Now tell me why things didn't work out with this Greg guy?"  
  
Kim shrugged as if she weren't exactly sure, pausing for a moment. "Greg was a really nice, sweet guy. He worked as a personal trainer at the gym I belong too. Had a great body. Knew how to cook, which I loved. He always remembered things and knew how to fold laundry and was patient with me which I need because I can be a bit crazy."  
  
"He sounds great. What was missing?"  
  
Kim recalled her mom asking her the exact same question. And Trini. And Aisha. And she couldn't explain it to any of them any better than she was able to now. "Greg was... he just didn't reach me. I don't know, something about us just never burned. It was like dating my brother, which I have a funny story about a ex-boyfriend and a letter to tell one day. He wasn't very memorable in or out of bed, if you catch my drift."  
  
"Ouch!"  
  
"Yeah. He never made me want more from him. We had a good time when we were together, but I didn't really think about him when we were apart. So when he was ready to commit and really start to build something, I just couldn't hurt him by lying and saying I felt the same way. I didn't," she sighed, recalling his disappointment. Greg was gonna make some girl damn happy one day. It just wouldn't be her. "He was hurt, but he respected my honesty. And it had only been three months. We stopped at the right time I think."  
  
Adept at reading people fairly well, Lena stared at her for a long moment. "Something else happened. Didn't it?"  
  
Suddenly Kim was taken back to that Friday night spent on the couch watching horror movies with Tommy until 2:00 AM. Far to much talking, laughing, snuggling, pizza, and alcohol and they ended up in his bed. "I slept with Tommy, but we didn't have sex. We sorta fell into bed together and then became this tangle of limbs and... I don't know." Her voice turned so soft. "When I woke up the next day in his arms something in me changed. It was two days later I broke things off with Greg."  
  
"OK, that was the right thing to ..."  
  
"Then Tommy and I kept sleeping together," Kim quickly interjected.  
  
"OK, now I'm going to need another drink," Lena teased.  
  
Kim verbally tried to make sense of what she could barely wrap her brain around in her quieter moments. "For the last three weeks we haven't really talked about it, but whoever goes to bed first, the other slides in after they're asleep. Its this great unspoken intimacy and I... we... it feels so right waking up next to him that it scares me to death."  
  
"So now what?"  
  
"I still want to stab him. Repeatedly."  
  
Lena smiled. "Why?"  
  
"He... I found out he lied about something important and that made me do something to hurt him back." When Lena frowned, Kim added, "Yeah, real mature response, right? I wish I was the poster child for wise decisions, but I'm not. This didn't involve sleeping with anyone or anything like that. But when I found out about his lie I was just so pissed off and angry. I wanted to punish him. To make him feel what its like to have your choice taken away from you."  
  
"Then what I think you need is a new man," came mildly slurred from over her right shoulder.  
  
Lena and Kim both looked up at the same time, but could have been blind and still smelled the absolutely drenched in cheap cologne and cheaper booze guy standing there. Average in height, he looked like he might of been handsome once upon a time when he gave a damn about how he looked. Black slacks and a button down shirt with five buttons undone revealing a chest so hairy the Tasmanian Devil would be impressed. Slick back black hair that made no attempt to hide his receding hairline, his eyes swept over Kim with a lustful gaze. He rocked on his heels, appearing to struggle to stand up straight as if the floor was made of ice. "Darling, you need a new man in your life. This Todd or Tim or whoever this guy of yours was, he's outta here," he declared with a thumb aimed over his shoulder. He then leaned in closer, doing his best impression at a deep  
voice. "My name is Al. Short for 'Al-Night-Long' if you catch my drift," he winked.  
  
Kimberly and Lena's mutual snort of pure laughter caused the guy to take a little step back.  
  
Her brown eyes alive with humor, Kim shot him a look that was the anti of come-hither. "The only thing you need my friend is a cab ride home as you shouldn't be driving in your condition, and the worlds longest, hottest shower." When he was about to interject the palm of her hand raised to his face. "And before you say another word, thank you for approaching me as your presence alone has reminded me why I need to be home and not at a bar at almost 3:00 AM in the morning. And your chest hair looks like a creepy forest."  
  
"Baby..."  
  
"No, I'm not your baby, honey, sweet cheeks or any other pet name that exists. No, you cannot share a cab with me. No, I don't want your phone number, email, or to know anything else about you. Yes, Hair Club for men might aid you in stopping that receding of your hairline, but only if you act now. And the only pussy you'll be getting tonight is if you decide to rob a Pet Smart."  
  
Squinting, he tried to formulate a rebuttal. "Little lady, you are missing out on..."  
  
Before he even finished what he was going to say Kim watched his eyes roll back, and then he passed out drunk on the floor at her feet. The girls stood over him. Kim gave him a tiny little kick to the ribs just to make sure he was still breathing. "Lena, kindly help me lift this guy onto a table, and the please call us both a cab."  
  
"Will do."  
  
"Oh, and before I settle my tab and tip you ridiculously well, got any advice for me?"  
  
"That Tommy guy. He's yours. Any man that can make you that crazy is the one for you. And please do fuck his outrageously hot self fairly soon."  
  
"Duly noted." Snaking a arm underneath the unconscious drunk, Kim realized her place was elsewhere. She needed to see Tommy. To talk to him. And to decide what was next.  
  
Not just for her, but for them.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Kim and Tommy's apartment  
17 W. Abbington Drive  
Saturday, Jan, 9, 2007  
3:39 AM  
San Diego, California  
  
  
  
Cursing under her breath as she quietly entered her dark apartment, Kim heel-kicked the door shut behind her and then swiftly moved to the bathroom. Flipping on the light switch, she threw her expensive puke-scented black Manolo Blahnik heels in the dirty clothes hamper along with her beer-scented blouse. "I hate men!"  
  
Uttered barely as whisper as she shut the bathroom door, Kim exhaled a wealth of frustration. The drunken jerk at the bar who tried to pick her up had fallen to the floor, and then proceeded to vomit all over her shoes when she helped Lena pick him up. Not to mention his wedding band spiraled from his back pocket along with tiny snippets of paper covered in phone numbers. They carried the cheating jerk to a chair while Lena called him a cab.  
  
The former Pink Ranger's good deed for the day, along with having saved a portion of the galaxy, was done.  
  
Arms crossed as she gazed at herself in the mirror, Kim could only shake her head at the lunacy of her life. Wired and tired, she had no clue how she was going to get to sleep tonight. She quickly engaged in a short world-wind of a shower and clean-up, donning a comfortable pink Victoria's Secret night shirt. Fresh breath restored, she padded out of the bathroom before reaching that short distance of space between her and Tommy's bedroom.  
  
One single, terrifying question popped in her head.  
  
Could she surrender to the feelings they shared?  
  
Equally hard-headed and stubborn as he was, Kim knew they'd have a long road ahead at making it work. Being single was like eating cereal to her, and she didn't cry herself to sleep at night over having been a bridesmaid three times in the last five years. She worked her ass off at her career and enjoyed life on her own terms. Life was good, fulfilling, and still evolving.  
  
But that damn Tommy Oliver made her feel far to much. Love. Passion. Rage. Safe. Pain. Lust.  
Love...  
  
She was drawn to him like a moth to a flame, and recognized the same addiction in his own gaze for her. No man had ever 'reached' her the way he did. And even with so many harsh things said tonight, she had missed him on the mission. Had soared through an incredible asteroid field and wished he'd been by her side to see it all. Had wanted to hurt him, and just as badly wanted to be with him.  
  
Her pacing ended at his bedroom door.  
  
Standing there felt like she was overlooking the edge of a cliff with an bottomless pit minus a safety net. If she were wrong about him... them... this would likely be the worse heartache she'd ever endure. Her heart was already invested in this, try as she hard to not admit the truth. But what kind of life did you live if you never took chances?  
  
Minus anything resembling a well thought out plan, Kimberly's hand moved closer to the  
doorknob. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her mind was a complete blank as she was a creature of pure emotion tonight. She gently opened the door.  
  
Tommy's bed wasn't slept in. He wasn't there.  
  
The sudden regretful emptiness that came over her was quickly followed by a profound sense of hurt that no matter the argument they had tonight he hadn't found his way back to her as she had to him. Wherever he was, he didn't want to be near her tonight... her anger grew white-hot, tinged with hurt feelings and just a 'Fuck-It All' mood.  
  
"I hate men!" She suddenly wished she'd drank a hell of a lot more than she had tonight.  
  
Raging across the apartment, no longer caring about much other than crawling into bed and dreaming of killing men, Kim entered her bedroom to find a sight that completely soothed her troubled heart.  
  
Shirtless and gorgeous, Tommy was fast asleep in her bed. The gentle rise and fall of his back was so close to hypnotic as she watched over him in the dark. He'd waited for her after all. It felt like her feet wanted to take a step back, her heart's sly way of saying it was half-afraid.  
  
But not tonight. Exhaling deeply, Kim had no intention of running away from this.  
  
She intended to meet this monumental personal moment head-on with courage. That was her choice. Her decision. For so long her life felt like a tight rope act, ever trying not to get hurt. Keeping potential loves at an arms reach. Daddy issues, courtesy of her parents epically failed marriage and her mother's relationship struggles ever since. But they were not her own. She had her own path to trail blaze.  
  
And this was the first step.  
  
Quietly shutting the door behind her, when Kim turned back around she found Tommy wide awake, gazing at her in the dark. She gave a soft, feminine sigh as they shared a lifetime of unsaid feelings. It didn't suddenly dawn on her that she loved him. She'd always loved him in one form or another. It was just the sheer force of that love had never been stronger than it was right now.  
  
That's what gave her the fearlessness to erase the short distance between them. And when she reached the bed, he reached for her. Claimed her in his strong arms, drawing her tight to his chest, stealing her breath away.  
  
No words were said.        
  
Seizing the day with an uncontrollable urgency, Tommy laced his fingers into her silky dark brown hair. Cupping the back of her head, drawing her to his mouth, their lips met in an erotic union of hot need. Any doubts she had evaporated as the intensity of their sultry kiss was a mark of desperation that something had to fucking change forever between them!  
  
Their time was now.  
  
The impatient rhythm of their X-rated lip-lock left them both gasping, clawing at each other as Tommy pulled her beneath him, settling between her spread thighs. Every single intense emotion this woman created and owned within him detonated in the way he kissed her so hungrily. With such an overwhelming thirst for the sweet taste of her, gliding back and forth over her soft lips. He was throbbing with need, and that was before she snaked one hand down their bodies and into his shorts, fisting his manhood.  
  
Gritting his teeth, Tommy hissed sharply when her fingers curled around his length, and was rewarded when her sexy little tongue swept inside his mouth. He sucked at it, swallowing her breath as he took all that he'd wanted for so very long. All caution be damned, she boldly stroked his hard cock from root to tip. There was nothing coy about the way she tortured him. Nothing shy or unsure of how to handle him. She felt dizzy and wild, her tongue sliding wetly around his as she fucked his cock with her fist. Felt so hard and soft in the palm of her hand, dripping from the tip. And when his hand cupped between her legs she whined softly over his lips... her neck arching, lips parted with a whimper as he found her so wet when his fingers slipped inside her panties, brushing her pussy as she shivered beneath him.  
  
Overcome with longing, Tommy relinquished her delicious mouth, panting heavily as he stilled her hand around his cock. What she was doing had felt so damn good, but if she kept going this would have ended sooner rather than later. Her impish little evil grin said it all.  
  
His descent of her body came in a flash as he lowered his head between her trembling thighs, hooking them over his shoulders. His lips connected with her inner thighs, softly kissing her skin, caressing her until she could barely stand it. The feminine scent of her arousal had his mouth watering as his tongue brushed her mound over the damp cotton of her white panties. Her body jerked as he held her down, lashing the darkened cotton once more just to hear her moan. He growled with aching need, lifting his gaze for but a second as their eyes connected.  
  
'Do it,' she silently begged, her lovely face blushed with lust.  
  
Biting at her bottom lip, Kim felt him tug her panties aside... felt the warmth of his breath upon her... his hungry gaze staring...  
  
"Ahhh," she cried out passionately, her head tossed back, her fingernails biting into the bedsheets when his tongue slid along the moist length of her sex, tasting her fully. Her thighs shook around his head when his tongue lazily traversed her slit a second time, firmly lashing her slick lips. Lapping up and down, slowly stroking her with the full length of his tongue until she purred like a kitten. Parting her soft lips, he made love to her with his mouth, his head rocking back and forth between her legs, taking her to heaven.  
  
The provocative moaning sounds that escaped his hunger were driving her as crazy as the sucking mouth going down on her. With a hand now firmly holding his head where she needed him, her slender hips arched, encouraging his feast. Grinding her hips to his mouth... Eyes tightly shut, her nipples even tighter, her body strained and shifted, yet he wouldn't let her get away. The carnal sucking sounds left her quivering, shifting, quaking, just feeding him all of her.  
  
Tommy slid his arms under her knees as he invaded her juicy flesh with his tongue, fucking her. Nothing and no one could have stopped him from having her this way tonight. Her arousing scent fed his new addiction. The sweet taste of her, he was utterly lost as her slender hips pumped into his mouth. Lost in lust, she writhed when his tongue began lashing over the erect nub of her clit, causing her to shake and tremble. The lustful sounds she was made had him thrusting against the mattress for any sense of relief he could give himself. His cock throbbed angrily with jealousy at the way his tongue thrust inside her.  
  
Grinding her hips, she hypnotically watched his tongue stroking over her clit, wetly lashing up and down as she shivered with pleasure... and then he began to suck softly... and then that much harder... her entire body tensed, eyes straining shut as the sweet tension grew white hot, tight... and when two fingers thrust into her, fucking her so hard her body contorted violently. Her climax peaked with hot waves of pleasure around his pumping fingers. Her thighs closed around his head as her hips arched high, shivering. Her body shifted over the covers, but he held her to him, tasting every drop of her...  on and on... He was still lapping softly at her as her breathing finally calmed long enough for her to gently shove his head away.  
  
Reeling happily from an incredible orgasm, she felt his glistening face come to rest against her inner thigh. His heavy breathing... his egotistical smirk, all with her eyes closed.  
  
After a minute or so to regain herself, Kim wrenched up, and then threw her night shirt across the room while the feel of his damp fingers peeling her panties down and off signaled they were only getting started.  
  
Rising above her once more, Tommy kissed her hard. The absolute fear, frustration, and anger he'd lived with in the last couple of days collided with the sheer lust that he had to have her. To finally have her! She kissed him back just as greedily, tasting herself on his lips. Her legs parted for him, offering herself, urging him to take her! The head of his rock-hard cock nudged at her soft opening, sinking into her, spreading her around him until he was all the way in.  
  
Until they were finally sealed as one. Caution, protection, and patience be damned.  
  
Kim emitted a long, low moan at the slow, deep strokes of his thick cock. The power of his strong, lean body rocked into her time after time. Full of him, her eyes rolled back as the bed springs squeaked their approval. She loved the erotic sounds he made, the way he frame heaved above her, pressing her down into the mattress, forcing his way inside her tightness. Her nipples brushed sensation over his muscled chest. Her legs crossed around his torso, drawing him in deeper as every nerve ending in her body hummed. The bed gently rocked beneath her as they began moving as one, gliding along a sensuous rhythm of lovemaking.  
  
Penetrating her deeply, nothing had ever felt so good as being buried to the hilt inside Kim. Nothing had ever turned him on more than the feel of her toned thighs tensing around him. Of her heels crossing his lower back, ankles locking him in place as they moved as one. The decadent music of her ragged breathing as he fucked her just a little harder. Pumping his hips in long, deep thrusts that saw her fingernails dig into his shoulders. Her teeth into the side of his neck, soothed by her soft tongue and moans of pleasure.  
  
In that moment and long before it, Tommy loved her more than anything in the world. More than he ever imagined he could love another person. She was his and his alone. After tonight she would never, ever doubt that again.  
  
A wordless cry escaped her mouth when he covered an erect nipple with his. His tongue stroked wetly over the sensitive tip as he lapped over it. He suckled and lashed at the pebbled peak, drawing deeply at the tip, never losing rhythm inside her. Taking his time, sucking with hunger, tracing at the soft swell of her small breast. He bathed the other in the same warm, wet affection. She arched her back, angled her hips higher, forcing every deep thrust over her clit... God, it had been so long since she had great sex. And this bordered on epic way before it was over.  
  
His absolute thirst to make her come again was beyond his control as he fucked her harder. As his hands slid beneath her, grabbing onto her ass, holding her down beneath him while driving into her deeply. It had been far to long for him, though he held on as best he could, shoving the bed into the wall and her into it until she cried out once more. Her inner muscles tightened around him and there was absolutely no hope of holding back as he pounded into her hard, cumming in bursts of surging wet heat, his face buried in the crook of her neck. Her face strained in pure pleasure, her inner muscles draining him dry until he had no more left to give.  
  
She clung to him in a boneless full-body embrace, gasping heavily, taking all of him inside her. The immense, intense emotion... the passion was nearly mind-numbing as they finally crossed that last line between them. His sweat-slicked skin clung to hers, the powerful drum beat of his heart beating against her own. She held him tightly as he trembled in her embrace. The warmth of his breath fanned over the damp skin of her neck. For her, two orgasms in the span of however long since they started, wow!  
  
And yet while he wasn't as hard as before, he was still rigid enough. Still buried inside her. She lovingly stroked his short, dark hair. The hedonistic smile they shared... Still silent as they hadn't spoken a word since she arrived. And then her hips rocked into his... and then again, as their gazes locked. A third time as she smiled wickedly, feeling him harden inside her.  
  
They kissed softly in the dark, caressing and thrusting, their bodies a tangle of sweaty limbs and colliding hips. Covers hung half off the side of bed, while two of her four pillows were flung to the floor. The sheets were damp with sweat, the air around them scented with lust.  
  
After marking her neck, Tommy wanted her on top this time, twisting over so that she sat snug over his lap. Still locked in place where she belonged.  
  
Wielding delicious pleasure and control, she sank him so deep inside her, sealing their hips together on the wingtips of a husky groan. He was so damn hard, more man than she'd ever had felt before. The sensation of being filled so fully was beyond erotic as she moved over him. Her eyes fell shut, perspiration slicking her hair to her face as she began gliding up and down so tortuously slow she wanted to drive him crazy. Bending over him, loving how thick he felt as she squeezed around him, she kissed him with a breath-stealing hunger. She suckled at his bottom lip while rolling her hips over him, curling her back like a snake over his lap. She confidently fucked his cock until he was grunting and moaning so loudly she was sure he'd never had it so damn good.  
  
Gently biting, nibbling at her succulent mouth... her chin... the side of her face, and then her throat. Tommy's strong hands grabbed at her hips, taking hold of her, dragging her down in hard, up-thrusts. The silky feel of her smooth skin, her slick heat sucking around him as she rode him with a fiery, possessive rhythm that murdered the memory of every woman before 'his' Kim. Her pussy drew ravenously at his cock, riding harder as her mouth fled his. She rose and fell with her eyes tightly shut, her face strained in a lustful blush, lips parted in a bow. Fused by sweat and desire, his hands filled with her firm backside, lifting her with lunging thrusts as she rode him.  
  
It came over her so fast... so unrelenting... just a sheer, hot, wet, body-shaking nails-embedded-in-his-shoulders orgasm that left her tightening uncontrollable around him... deep, wild cries tore from her throat as he suddenly flipped her over onto her back mid-climax.  
  
She was still cumming...  
  
Watching her was a fucking revelation as Tommy lost all control, acting on pure primal instinct alone. Her inner muscles twitched warmly around him, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist as his powerful thrusts left him trembling with the reality of what they'd set in motion. Groaning heavily, his knees digging into the mattress, the intensity of making angry love to her overcame any hope of holding back his need to cum inside her again.  
  
Fiery, pleasure-soaked, scintillating, bed-smacking, wall-rocking, outright screaming sex culminated when Tommy's orgasm slithered down his spine until it caught him like an out of control freight train.  
  
She took his power... his need... and his hunger for her, loving his lack of control and the way her name rained from the pit of his throat as stunning bursts of wet ecstasy surged into her. She held his heaving, grunting frame until he stilled at last... until he gently slumped over her. The only thing she could note was their heavy breathing and that they were oh so alive.  
  
Sore, exhausted, sated beyond all reason and sure the room smelled of sin and that her bed might need to be replaced. Kim smiled in the dark as she had no strength to move. Thankfully, Tommy slipped from her and crashed down beside her with a groan that was almost funny. Sticky and ten shades of reckless, her body hummed at all the pleasure it had enjoyed.  
  
She'd made love to Tommy at last.  
  
And it was fucking AWESOME!  
  
There were a ton of things to talk about and a definitive path to set and all of that, but right now she just didn't want to do anything more than lie beside him and happily pass out. She'd didn't have anything else to give tonight, physically or emotionally. She just wanted to be near him.  
  
Summoning the last of his strength to roll over onto his side, Tommy stretched his arms and legs out. Of all the times he'd fantasized about making love to  Kim as a teenager and even as a grown man, tonight was better than all of it. He yawned loudly, preparing to open his eyes to hers and then... there was just so much to figure out. But his feelings for her were so very obvious. Of course when he did open his eyes he found Kim had fallen into a very deep sleep, and was even snoring softly.  
  
His chest swelled with male pride.  
  
Yawning once more, Tommy quietly pulled the covers over her nude form. As ever, their timing was way off, but they were at least moving in the same direction.  
  
Smiling, Tommy soon fell fast asleep himself.  
  
  
  
******  
  
10:25 AM  
  
******  
  
  
  
When the softest of moans suddenly escaped him, Tommy slowly awakened to twin surprises of the most incredible kind.  
  
Brown eyes sleepily opened to gorgeous beige walls and a wall-spanning oil painting of a beautiful sailboat. Neither of which were native to  
his bedroom. Suddenly, carnal memories of last night mentally assaulted him as it dawned where he was and who’s bed he was in.  
  
The second, and by far the most exquisite treat, was the methodical rise and fall of the sheets over his lap... and just as stunning, the moist, warm pleasure of the sweetest mouth gliding up and down his now very hard cock. He blinked, ensuring he wasn't imagining this. But the pleasure was far to real as his eyes rolled backward, hands curled into fists. His heart rate quickened, his senses rising to full alert as all he could do was marvel at the way his cock swelled in the warm wetness of Kim's amazingly talented mouth.  
  
His brain attempted to wrap around waking to such a ecstasy, but quickly gave up. His back arched when she nibbled on just the head, her tongue gliding over the sensitive tip in such a gloriously lazy manner her name was all that he could say... over and over along with such simple phrases as "Oh God," "So good," and "Baby, don't stop, please..."  
  
Certainly a spur of the moment idea, Kim woke up feeling naughty and carefree. Why not go all the way and just erase the line they crossed last night? Fisting his cock, she sucked hard on the head, loudly letting him hear how lovingly she enjoyed the task. Warm saliva trickled down the side of his hard cock, followed by her tongue giving chase. Under the covers she firmly stroked the base of his cock, sliding her mouth up and down the shaft to the tune of his husky breathing and the sheets pulling gently from his hands grabbing at them. His thigh muscles tensed near her head, his chest rising and falling powerfully as she sucked with renewed vigor, loving the raw connection they shared.  
  
No man would ever spend time trying to figure out what he did to be so lucky to be in this position, but Tommy mentally swore Kim would be repaid in pleasure until she couldn't see straight. Which was exactly the position he was in now as the covers hypnotically bobbed over his lap. Her oh-so-warm mouth sank down... all the way down, and then back up, and then back down again. Wet sucking sounds crippled his senses as all thinking fled out the bedroom window - so did his breathing - the ability to do anything more than belong to her and pray she never stopped doing what she was doing.  
  
Feeling the tell-tale signs that he was nearing the end of his control, she slowed the pace by nibbling down his throbbing length, and then back up again... lazy, wet sucks that went on and on as he moaned and groaned like a man on the edge of a cliff. She took pride in her vaunted technique, but it was time to rock his world. After a deep intake of breath, she began stroking his cock while sucking hard, hollowing her cheeks to drive him mad!  
  
Shaking now, his toes curling, Tommy felt it rising so fast he barely was able to utter, "Kim... Kim, I'm gonna... God, Kim!"  
  
While a good girl was ever thankful for the warning, her inner bad girl intended to finish the job, pun intended. Burying him in the warmth of her sucking mouth, her tongue wrecked havoc on the head, lashing just before she fucked him with her fist and her mouth. His entire body tensed powerfully, encased in intense pleasure that rumbled through him when he came so hard and fast in her mouth. The wet bursts slid over her tongue as she swallowed, sucking every damn drop like she couldn't get enough. Her fist fucked it all out of him and down her throat. And when finally the shakes overwhelming him began to subside, she smiled beneath the covers.  
  
No, she had never, ever in her life met a woman that thought the taste of cum was good. Nor did she personally share that belief. And while a mans diet had a great deal to do with it, there was never the word "Good" used to describe the taste. But sometimes you just wanted to own the man you loved, and make it so damn good for him that he would never forget it. And after last nights three orgasm extravaganza, she didn't mind taking one for the team.  
  
He'd earned it.  
  
Tugging the covers back while climbing up alongside him, despite the wild bed hair she was sure she was sporting, Kim greatly enjoyed the closed-eyed, thoroughly butt-kicked expression he wore. He wore the look of a well-pleased man.  
  
"Jesus..."  
  
"No, Kim," she softly snickered, grazing a smooch over his cheek.  
  
  
  
******  
  
5:45 PM  
  
******  
  
  
  
"...fuck, so good," Kim swore softly as her small breasts swayed to the deep thrusts rocking her forward on her knees. Her nails dug into the dark blue sheets on Tommy's king-size bed while his dug into her slender hips from behind, driving into her with slow, impacting thrusts. So deep she felt him everywhere as she quivered around him. Groaning hotly, she tossed the most erotic smirk over her shoulder at him, panting, "Take it... ahhh, yes..."  
  
"Mine!" Tommy swore, his gaze fixated on the obscenely carnal expression Kim wore in the large black-trimmed mirror above the headboard of his bed. The seductive, oh-so-sexy faces she made... her features contorting sensuously... wincing passionately... he could not steel his eyes away from the hypnotic sight of her for anything in the world. The rousing vision of her perfect little ass smacking against his upper thighs, it felt so fucking good to be buried inside her. To feel her body sucking around him. Bending over her, his strokes slowed as he nipped at her shoulder, breathing hot over the back of  
her neck. Pressing kisses up and down her spine.  
  
Hissing between clenched teeth when his gently bit at the nape of her neck, she rocked into his slow and deep thrusts, matching his rhythm perfectly. The scent of his skin covered every square inch of her body, and she loved the way it branded her as his. Giving him such control... such power to take her this was turned her on beyond words. Her inner muscles squeezed around him, drawing tightly... wetly around his hard shaft. He belonged to her, body and soul. She felt it bone deep him in her bloodstream. Him so deep inside her she couldn't think straight.  
  
They were indulging in pure, raw emotion. Reckless desire like an out of control freight train.    
  
Bent over her with her small breasts in his hands, Tommy heard her suck in her breath, and then cry out in pleasure. Drawing back until the tip was barely inside her, and then forward once more until she spread around his cock with the warmest embrace. The sound of their flesh slapping together was intoxicating as his heart pounded in his chest. Her whole body flushed with heat and perspiration and God, he just couldn't get enough of her. She was so warm, wet, and tight encased around him. The way her lovely hair framed her flushed face, her swaying breasts, her nipples so erect as he took her from behind... he could watch her forever like this. Watching 'his' Kim being fucked hard. The way her beautiful face strained, white teeth bared as their flesh smacked rhythmically, his hips colliding with her gorgeous little backside. "Can't... God, I can't get enough of you."  
  
Kim locked eyes with his in the mirror once more, gazing at his reflection hungrily. The intense hunger written all over his face. The lean muscle of his body flexing, as deadly to her senses as the hard cock sinking into her as she rocked back to meet his lust. He looked hypnotized in the mirrors reflection... part Green Ranger evil, part lost in her... dark and sexy and just so damn hard. Her breasts tingled with every deep thrust. Finally she shut her eyes at the intensity of her own heated expression. The scent of them hung in the hot air, her knees digging into the mattress as she was fucked from behind. Trembles of pleasure swept over her as she tipped her ass higher, grunting loudly every single time he went deep. "Don't stop..."  
  
"Can't stop," he gasped, holding on tight to her from behind. Mercy, he stared at the vision she made in the mirror - The lustful glow of her cheeks... mouth parted in the sexiest bow as she breathed heavily. She was beyond sexy. Seductive. Decadent. Words failed him to describe her. She felt so damn good he knew he'd always be addicted.  
  
Kim knew the moment his hand came down hard over her ass with an audible smack that fifteen years of unresolved sexual tension couldn't have been resolved by flowers and candy missionary sex. Again, as she cried out... again, the heat of his hand that left her sex weeping around him. Each smack leaving a hand-sized blush over her ass.  
  
She wanted to fuck him. To be fucked by him. And when he took a fistful of her hair, pulling her back while watching the ecstasy on her face, fucking her deep and hard, the duel sensation left her quivering. Engaged in unapologetically loud sex as she was bent at the waist, legs spread wide for him... she heard the low cry break from his throat as his cock suddenly stiffened inside her, his hands gripping her hips, allowing him to fuck her so hard at the end when jolts of wet heat surged uncontrollably into her. Already on the edge or orgasm herself, his climax triggered hers, roaring in great clenching spasms around him that drained and milked his seed until he had none left. Until his sweat-slicked frame bent over her, his cock still twitching with no more cum to give.  
  
  
  
******  
  
Later that night  
  
******  
  
  
  
Highway I-5 North  
Saturday, Jan, 9, 2007  
9:30 PM  
Southern California  
  
  
  
"This time, This place - Misused, Mistakes - Too long, Too late - Who was I to make you wait - Just one chance - Just one breath - Just in case there's just one left -'Cause you know, you know, you know..."  
  
Cruising behind the wheel of his black 2006 Ford Explorer, Tommy enjoyed Kim's impromptu MP3 sing-along concert as she recited Nickle backs "Far Away" while they drove up the coast on a starry night. Lost in the music, she applied a fresh coat of high gloss pink nail polish to her fingernails while engaged in a musical duet with one of her all-time favorite bands.  
  
Her energy tonight was infectious. As if the air around her crackled with a spark of unpredictable adventures to come. Behind those designer shades of hers he thought she was so damn beautiful... so deserving of the brilliant evening skyline above as twilight set in.  
  
"That I love you - I have loved you all along - And I miss you - Been far away for far too long - I keep dreaming you'll be with me - and you'll never go -  
Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore..."  
  
The former White Ranger smiled at the way his heart-rate was directly affected by those lyrics, even as she hadn't spared him so much as a glance while singing them. Nor had that surprised him in the least. It was just Kim being Kim. Flirtatious mind games in a could-care-less attitude that was far from the truth, but all her style.  
  
Their unbroken silence ever since they hit the road an hour ago wasn't a condition of an issue as far as he was concerned. He quietly relished the long drive ahead and having time to mentally walk through all the changes to come in his life.  
  
This was it. This was the trip that they would look back on as the turning point relationship. Whatever the future held for them began here.  
  
After their last tremendously vigorous love-making session this afternoon they enjoyed a long, relaxing nap as a plan began to form in his mind. Slipping from the bedroom to make a quick, secretive phone call, when Tommy returned he softly kissed her awake. When her pretty brown eyes sleepily opened he whispered that she needed to pack an overnight bag, shower, and be ready to roll in thirty minutes. Just trust him. He offered no more information, nor did she even ask. Her answer was the brightest, sexiest smile. They'd set upon this new path together, and it was understood that things would never be the same again. So whatever he had planned, she was all in.      
  
Cheesy as it sounded in his head, Tommy felt like his heart was soaring as she sang along with her personal mix of favorite music. Her singing voice had him wondering not for the first time why she hadn’t taken a more serious shot at a musical career. She was so talented, and he knew that while he was far more than smitten with her, if he'd never met her before he would have felt the exact same way. She had 'it', and he wanted to know why she hadn't taken 'it' further. But Kim was practical and focused where her post-college interior design career was concerned. Where he'd bounced around as a race car driver, stuntman, and a part-time superhero before going back to college for paleontology, becoming a high school teacher, and then yet again donning the tights, she'd found her niche right after the Pan Global games and relentlessly pursued it.  
  
Her creative side loved what she was doing for a living. A fact she'd shared with him many times.  
  
As their road trip flew by in a blur of the moonlit ocean, Tommy knew he was ever the restless soul seeking his next great thrill while Kim lived like the certainty of the sun rising in the morning. She knew herself and what she wanted far better than he ever did. She wanted and craved adventure just as much, but she was able to let it go as her time had passed for certain things. She made peace with it, and was able to say goodbye when other aspects of her life required her full attention. A skill he had always envied and admired in her.  
  
Which made her recent Ranger mission all the more troublesome to him.  
  
Though a mystery as all women were, Tommy longed to take his time learning everything there was to know about her. As much as he knew, there was so much more to the woman who ruined all other women for his heart. She was quality. Class. Sexy. Dangerous. Smart. A smart ass too, and much, much more.  
  
As the beauty of Oceanside, California sped by, Tommy couldn't stop thinking about the woman beside him. After one of... no, the absolute best night of his entire life the thought of Kim ever being with another man wasn't something he could deal with. No way, no how. He greedily soaked in every second of her presence by his side. Last night wouldn't be enough for him. Forever might not be enough, and deep down he knew what that meant. Knew that it was time to man-up or let her go. Though now the latter simply wasn't possible.  
  
If it wasn't that devilish twinkle in her eyes whenever she was caught red-handed eating his Golden Grahams cereal after he'd hidden them and she found them anyway, it was her infectious laughter at silly movies that made spending time with her so much damn fun. Like making him watch Sex in the City with her and eating ice cream, a fact he'd never dared tell a living male friend of his. Or the way she fell asleep on his shoulder during Sunday football games that she didn't have a world of interest in, but watched them because he did. She greatly enjoyed playing pranks on him, and could argue him into the ground, and then piss him off so bad he wanted to put his fist through a wall. But the anger never remained for very long. Never lingered. And just like that she could flash that glorious smile of hers and he was putty in her hands once more. Once they talked it was never spoken of again,  
  
Tommy was also fond of Kim's immense drive and the way she attacked life with a voracious intent to succeed. Nothing was ever handed to her. She earned her promotions and those bigger contracts. He was well aware she didn't need his side of the rent anymore... far from it, actually as money was no longer an issue at all. But now she wanted him to stay as badly as he wanted too, even with that being unsaid. And while she would never win a cooking contest, he thought her roast beef was the best he'd ever eaten.  
  
Yeah, he had it bad.  
  
And then Greg entered her life. For the very first time since they moved in together Tommy felt threatened. Flirting and bantering hadn't led to them crossing the line he was certain was just waiting to be erased. But life and work and, really just life made time whip by so fast and all of a sudden she had a boyfriend that wasn't a jerk at all. Greg had been a pretty decent guy, even as Tommy wanted to behead him. And on date nights when Kim didn't come home he wasn't foolish enough to think she was sleeping on his couch.  
  
Tommy knew his agitation with Greg was all jealousy. But if Kim had truly fallen in love, and he hadn't stepped up to the plate to offer her an alternative, who was he to stand in the way? In hindsight, he recalled his fathers old saying "A closed mouth doesn't get fed." He should have told Kim how he felt, but he hadn't found the words. His throat closed around trusting her, or any woman that much again. His first, second, and fourth relationships all ended with the girl either feeling they had gone as far as they could go, or he wasn't ready for a deeper commitment, or some jerk in Florida blah blah blah...  
  
But that amazing movie night when he first shared a bed with Kim, and every night after he knew she was his heart and if he wanted to win hers he'd have to fight for it.  
  
Tonight, he fully intended to do just that.  
  
With Kim still singing along beside him, Tommy let his mind drift back to the intense passion they shared last night. The sheer eruption of emotion she stirred in him couldn’t be denied. He'd never been that way with a woman before. Never so hungry for her... so in desperate need to take her... just thinking about how they made love caused his cock to harden in his jeans even as he drove. A smirk danced along the side of his mouth just thinking about how she felt wrapped around him.  
  
He knew that she deserved his very best. That she didn't play games, and her heart wasn't something to toy with. So when the idea to take her away for the rest of the weekend popped into his head, he saw the opportunity for them to spend some quality alone time together, and to truly talk about where they wanted to go.  
  
"So are you going to tell me where we're going yet, or should I email a picture of myself to Trini so she can have them placed on the back of milk cartons?"  
  
"Can't it be a surprise?" he smiled while easing his foot off the accelerator as the road began to curve.  
  
With his handsome profile outlined in the soft glow of the dashboard, Kim settled in comfortably, turning down the radio a bit so that they  
could talk. "Fine, keep your secrets."  
  
Her tone wasn't upset at all. She fixed him with a bratty do-what-I-say expression he already loved. "Just be patient."  
  
"We're going to your uncle's cabin in the mountains." His deer-in-headlights-expression made her laugh out loud. To funny. "Really?"  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"Number one, two weeks ago you mentioned how he hadn't used it in a while, but how much you still loved the area," she counted off a second finger, "Second, I can read highway signs and have 20/20 vision. We're heading toward the mountains of Angel Grove and we don't have any camping equipment with us, so the logical destination is your Uncle's cabin."  
  
Reaching out to take her hand, he brought it to his mouth where he kissed it softly. "I was hoping you would have fallen asleep from my awesome lovemaking skills and then would be surprised when you woke up."  
  
"You're not that awesome," her eyes twinkled as he humorously let her hand go. He was beyond awesome, actually. But he knew that already, the jerk. Handsome, wonderful jerk that he was. "You know, we were supposed to lose our virginity to each other there."  
  
Better believe he remembered that one. "Yeah, but you weren't ready... like ever."  
  
She shot him one hell of a glare. "Hey!"  
  
"Kidding."  
  
"No you're not."  
  
"I know, I'm not. I was so horny back then," he chuckled at the memories of their youth. "My gorgeous girlfriend walked around in leotards and spandex every single day and all I could do was kiss her. It was killing me to be a gentleman."  
  
She shifted a little to look at him. "I bet your right hand got a hell of a workout back in the day."  
  
"Your dad did say I had a good, strong handshake." They both cracked up at that one, thoroughly enjoying the moment. This seemed like the perfect moment to fix an issue between them. He turned serious. "Listen, I just want to say that I am sorry for not telling you or anyone not involved with the Red Rangers mission. While it was a kind of spur of the moment mission, that’s no excuse to not keep everyone in the loop and informed. It was a bad call on me and Jason's part and I hope you can forgive me."  
  
His sincere apology eased a bit of the anger she still held onto over it. "All of you that went, you matter to all of us. The Rangers are family for life. So if something attacks Earth, it attacks all of us. Not just you guys. So please never do anything like that again... at least not without letting me in on the fun," she winked at the end.  
  
Tommy nodded. "It won't happen again, I promise. You have my word."  
  
"You're forgiven." She stared straight ahead, enjoying the sights of Southern California until Tommy fake-coughed. She settled back and shut her eyes, and then he cleared his throat. Nothing. A pause later and she was almost laughing at him.  
  
"Don't you have something you want to say to me?"  
  
"Well, we've got bottled water in the back seat and I have a cough drop in my purse. Which do you want?" He shook his head, driving along while pretending to be pissed at her. She wanted to kiss him right then and there. "I'm sorry too," she began seriously. "It wasn't right or mature to disappear without a trace. I know how worried you were, and I'm sorry. Something like this won't ever happen again. I promise."  
  
"... I can't lose you, Kim." Maintaining his focus on the road wasn't easy as they were delving into uncharted waters. "You're not just my good friend anymore." And then he declared with his heart, "You're a part of me now. The best part. I wouldn’t be able to take it if something happened to you."  
  
There really wasn't anyway to take what he said but at face value. And that meant fully accepting where this was headed. Kim's ever present fear gently faded as she reached for his free hand, twining their fingers as he drove. "Do you know what a shipper is?"  
  
"A shipper" he ran through his mind." "A person who ships goods? Like Fed-Ex?"  
  
"No," she laughed before reminding herself who she was talking too. "Well yeah to the general public. But in TV shows, movies and books a shipper is someone supports the romantic relationship between two people. The term you tend to use is 'I ship' and then the shipper name of the couple at the end. Like when I was twelve I shipped Zack and Kelly from Saved by the Bell. But that was before they had ship names. So I just said I ship Zack and Kelly."  
  
All of this was way over Tommy's head. "OK..."  
  
Taking a deep, calming breath Kim declared. "I one-hundred percent ship Kommy."  
  
"... you're a communist?"  
  
She wanted to smack him, but couldn't be to mad as how many guys knew this stuff. "No, Kommy with a K. Its our ship name. Its us. Its my K and your ommy. I ship Kommy." There. He had to understand that.  
  
Inside his heart it was the Fourth of July. "So you support a romantic relationship between us, right?"    
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why can't we be called Tim?"  
  
"Cause that sucks."  
  
"Timberly?"  
  
"Is that a boy-band?"  
  
"Why do you get to name us?"  
  
"Cause I created this ship. My ship, my name choice. Those are the rules."  
  
"OK, honey."  
  
"Honey? I here I thought I was your Beautiful?"  
  
"Always."  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
Harry Oliver's cabin  
Saturday, Jan, 9, 2007  
11:45 PM  
Mountains of Angel Grove, Ca  
  
  
  
  
"I was a Power Ranger and a Girl Scout, dammit!" Kimberly proudly reminded herself as worked the twin wooden sticks with vigor, desperately attempting to recreate what Stone-Age mankind once did thousands of years ago. Alas, as she drilled the sticks into a smaller piece of wood in hopes of creating an ember, her efforts were quickly proving futile. She'd been at it for ten minutes now with no luck. "Come on, Kim. You navigated a advanced starship through a vast asteroid field while a black hole collapsed behind you. This should be child’s play.."  
  
So far she only created a bad cramp in her right hand. And talking to herself in the third-person hadn't helped either.  
  
Seated upon a stoop just off the side of the front porch of Harry Oliver's cabin, she gazed skyward in frustration while listening to the incredibly uncharacteristic swear words fleeing Tommy's mouth at a frantic pace from inside. Ever the gentleman, raised by one and mindful of how unimpressive cursing made a person look, the former White Ranger's expletive rant as he finished his walk-through of the cabin was almost amusing if she wasn't so hungry and  
chilly.  
  
As she set about trying to start a fire once more, Kim considered reminding Tommy that while he asked his uncle if he was using his cabin, he never asked what condition it was in or the last time he'd been up here. For if he had Tommy he might of learned that the electricity generator no longer worked, leaving them with no refrigerator, TV, or lights. Add into it inch-thick dust on just about everything, a broken window, and the lack of heat... nonetheless she decided against beating him up more than he was doing himself already. And for one so self-disciplined and mild-tempered, to hear him swearing up a storm was pretty close to hilarious.  
  
Thankfully possessing the foresight only a woman was capable of, Kim had forced him to stop at a local Wall-Mart before they turned off the main road. They bought food, bottled water, clean sheets, and a couple of flashlights just cause. As light beams moved about the dark living-room as Tommy approached the front door, she was still far more pleased than angry at the state of things. That is, except her inability to create fire. Glaring at the hand that held the sticks, she knew she was doing it right, but it just wasn't working. "This sucks donkey balls!"  
  
"I couldn't agree more," Tommy exhaled angrily as he exited the front door and walked down the four short steps to sit beside her. Swiping dust off his hands, his gaze fell over the beautiful sparkling lake nearby. He sighed with frustration, having found nothing the way he expected. "So you want the good news or the bad?"  
  
"Don't tease me that there's any good news." Grimacing, Kim spun the two wooden sticks ever harder, growing more discouraged by the second.  
  
"Duly noted," he replied with a grin. Hands on his knees, he told her, "I can't get the generator working, and only the water in the bathroom runs. With the water heater broken the only thing we have is cold water. But at least we can use the bathroom."  
  
"This is the most romantic medieval date I've ever had," she joked cheekily as fire continued to elude her. "Do we have candles?"  
  
"No. Not one."  
  
"Firewood for the fireplace?"  
  
"Thankfully, yes. We won't freeze tonight, provided we can start a fire."  
  
"How about the window?"  
  
"I did a quick board-up job on it. No worries."  
  
"So we have no electricity, no gas, enough dust to draw our names on every piece of furniture here, and only cold water in the bathroom?"  
  
"Well, the bathroom is the only thing working."  
  
"Amen for that at least." Having had enough, Kim rose to her feet, and then flung the offending wooden sticks back towards the woods they came from. Reaching down into her over-night bag, she pulled a pink laser blast out, aimed it at the wooden base she’d been working on, and fired three times. Instant fire. "And there you go." Lifting the blaster, she blew a kiss at the nozzle.  
  
Tommy stared with his mouth hung open. "You have a laser blaster?"  
  
"Yep, brand new. Courtesy of Billy. It was for my birthday."  
  
"A pink one?"  
  
"Awesome, right?" she gleefully noted, tucking the weapon back in her bag. "I would have gotten you one, but they didn't have Crayola color."  
  
Rolling his eyes, Tommy tossed a couple of branches on the fire while Kim gathered the marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. He watched her move to the car and then back again, his gaze as captivated as his heart. Never mind the poor state of the cabin, he felt this monumental shift in his life about  
to occur. When she returned to his side, he declared, "You're beautiful."  
  
Having heard him mid-poke of a marshmallow onto one of the sticks they brought, that word uttered by him had never failed to make her heart flip. She blushed by firelight, and then laughed at how young it made her feel. He was still the one and only man she wanted to be attractive for. "You gonna compliment me all night or help me?"  
  
"I'm going to do both."  
  
"Great answer." Her alluring smile was pure feminine invitation, and thankfully he got the hint. Leaning over, he maintained eye contact with her just before his warm mouth softly covered hers in a deep, wet kiss. The kind that warmed her all over from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet. He had fire in his soul, and it drew her like a moth to a flame. No man made her feel the way he did, and she felt it was time to stop looking for one who did.  
  
When their lips finally parted he inhaled the scent of her perfume, pressing a final kiss over the side of her neck. His tongue made her shiver, which lit a smile at the corner of his mouth. "I've never made a Smore before."  
  
Kim blinked, thoroughly shocked. "How is that even possible? Did you grow up in a prison?" her expression beamed as she handed him a marshmallow-staked stick, and then held one of her own over the fire. "You just lost a thousand cool points."    
  
"I was never the camping type, Kim." Tommy imitated how she held her stick, watching how she made sure to get close to the fire, but not to close. "I was a gym rat growing up. Martial arts was king and I wasn't into anything else."  
  
"So you're a Smores virgin?"  
  
"Yes. So you're taking my virginity here after all."  
  
"Excellent," she replied in her 'Mr. Burns' voice from the Simpsons, steepling her fingers Ala the iconic character. Rotating her marshmallow just above the flames, she heated it until until it was warm and gooey, and then angled her stick so that the marshmallow laid upon a chocolate covered graham cracker. Smushing another cracker on top to trap the marshmallow, she pulled it off the stick. "This is a perfect Smore," she announced happily as crickets provided background noise. She took Tommy's stick from his hand, and then handed him her Smore. "Eat this."  
  
Taking the oh so delicious looking treat, he couldn't resist brushing his lips over hers once more, whispering, "I'd rather eat you."  
  
His husky voice made her sex throb as he favored her with a I'm-gonna-charm-the-clothes-right-off you sorta smile. "Later," she mouthed silently, playfully shoving him away. She watched him take a big bite of the Smore while she made her own. "So what do you think?"  
  
"It's fantastic," he sounded like a child, grinning wide while inhaling another big bite. He had to wipe a bit of marshmallow off the side of his  
mouth. "How many can we make?"  
  
Kim snickered at his obvious enthusiasm. "Lets find out."  
  
For the next hour they ate Smores and kissed by firelight, enjoying the simpler things in life. On a gorgeous starry night they talked about the old days, recalling stories from their teenage years as Power Rangers and all the excitement and adventure they shared at such a young age. They laughed so hard at the memories of some of the zany monsters they fought and how they were somehow able to fool they're parents whenever they needed to sneak out of the house. How innocent things were back then, and how progressively serious they turned as they got older.  
  
With the Smores eaten and the fire dying out, Tommy reached for her hand. Her eyes met his, accepting his silent invitation. He twined their fingers, and then led her down a walk by the sandy shoreline of the lake.  
  
Enjoying the peaceful night for a few quiet minutes, Kim knew he was struggling to find the right words for what he wanted to say. She understood that about him, her heart ever patient where he was concerned. He was anxious and impatient, but more than that he was a bit nervous. The latter she found so cute as it showed how much this moment meant to him. How much she meant to him. Yes, he was worth waiting for, and crazy as they drove each other was as perfect as they were for each other.  
  
Holding her small hand as they toured the shoreline, Tommy summoned his courage for the most important talk of his life. He took a deep breath, and then began. "I was so scared when you disappeared, Kim. I was literally going out of my mind with worry. I have never been more scared in all my life."  
  
Guilt clenched hot in her belly. She gave a slow nod. "It was wrong of me to leave without a trace. No excuse makes up for that. I'm truly sorry," she said to him, closely watching the serious emotion written all over his face.  
  
"I know, and I believe you. It's just... I know what its like to make a snap decision too. I've always lived however I wanted to live. I never built a life that I couldn't uproot at any time. Relationships either," he confided to her. "Race car driving kept me on the road touring the country for most of the year when I did it. Stunt work kept me on the move as well. I lived in and out of so many hotels and motels cause I had no one waiting for me at home. I wasn't responsible for anyone but myself." He continued, "Paleontology sent me all over the world. And even when I tried to put down roots in Reefside, crazy found me again," he laughed softly, squeezing her hand. "But there comes a time in a mans life when he's got to assess what matters most and then commit to building that and only that. Its about prioritizing what matters most. I guess what I'm saying is I don't want to live selfishly anymore. I don't want to be the kind of person that has no roots anywhere."  
  
Tommy squeezed her hand as the waves crashed near their feet, "I've lived the most insanely outrageous life anyone ever could. I've literally done it all, and I don't regret most of it. But ever since I moved in with you and we reconnected, I realized that whatever I've been searching for my whole life, I found in you."  
  
"Its my great roast beef, isn't it?" Kim joked by his side, even as her eyes glistened at his dear words.  
  
Tommy shook his head, ever mindful of her need to be playful. "I knew in the last couple of weeks what I felt for you was truly special. But when you disappeared and I had no clue where you were for days... I was terrified.” He paused for a moment to gather himself. "Life is so short, Kim. Nothing is promised to anyone. But I've lived like I have had nine lives."  
  
"Like Catwoman?"  
  
"Work with me here," he smiled.  
  
"Hushing now." She made a little zip-motion over her mouth.  
  
He put an end to their little tour, affectionately tugging her to his chest. His arms closed tightly around her, holding her to him, as he gazed into her eyes. His heart skipped several beats as he gazed at her. "I'm madly in love with you."  
  
Kim's brilliant smile turned night to day. "I know."  
  
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."  
  
"Eh, I'm just as stubborn. We both gotta get better at that." Resting her head over his chest, she deeply inhaled clean mountain air. "I tried to get back at you in a way that was very hurtful and immature. I felt slighted and just so angry over how that dangerous Red Ranger mission seemed like a joke to you and Jason. Its like neither of you think you can ever die. That scares me big-time."  
  
"All that pride and ego we both have... we've got some growing up to do, that's for sure. But I don't want to be that man anymore. I want to keep you and everyone informed, and I need to be mindful that its not just me anymore. It's us." His hand lifted, gently cupping her face. "Nothing is more important to me than you are. You're my greatest adventure. So I don't need to seek thrills elsewhere."  
  
"I wear a size four ring."  
  
Tommy blinked. "What?"  
  
"What?" Kim quickly, if comically, repeated.  Grinning, she knew he wouldn't remember, but oh well. She'd make sure to leave reminders for a future trip to a jewelry store when the time was right. For now though she was content to be so happy. "I'm pretty insanely in love with you too." He looked as happy as she had ever seen him. Good. Very good. "Just remember this. I'm not going to try and change you. I just want you to think about your life right now, if what you're about to do will make me want to kill you, and that I want to know whats going on. And I'll treat you the same way."  
  
"Deal."  
  
"And you're going to have to be patient with me as well. I'm a pill and I know it. And I'm just as stubborn as you are."  
  
"Duly noted," Tommy replied.  
  
"Anything else?"  
  
"Don't write me any letters."  
  
"Who does that anymore? I got your email address, pal. And I know how to text very well. Couple that with the advances in social media and I have dozens of ways to break up with you if I choose."  
  
"No breaking up ever again."  
  
Well that meant everything and she knew it, felt it, and wanted it more than anything she ever had before. "Deal."  
  
When she shivered he drew her closer, already wanting her again. Already craving her body no matter that he had been with her all day long. He was addicted to everything that she was. "Lets go back to the cabin so I can warm you up."  
  
A raised brow, "Is that your best come on line?"  
  
"Your body's name must be Visa, because it's everywhere I want to be."  
  
Kim's face scrunched up as her response needled him. "Yeah, we're gonna lay off the lines and just unbutton your shirt. Some men should be seen and not heard."  
  
"How about this. I want to fuck you all night long."  
  
Her white teeth nipped at her bottom lip. "Jackpot!" Kim winked at him, and then she slipped from his embrace and ran off back to the cabin.  
  
Tommy chased after her, his heart as carefree as he had ever felt. It wasn't long before he caught up with her just as she reached the front porch, curling his arms around her slender waist to lift her off her feet and swing her around. She shrieked with glee as he set her back down on her feet, spun her around, and then thoroughly kissed her soft mouth.  
  
Just like that, all games faded away as passion flared white hot. That was, until they heard someone clearing their throat behind them. Tommy and Kim, still in each others arms, glanced over their shoulder.  
  
They found a blue-tinged holographic vision of Billy standing before them. Possessing his trademark business casual attire and a new-found commanding presence, he knew his presence here was not expected. But circumstances were dire.  
  
"Salutations," the former Blue Ranger offered as he greeted his old friends. "I apologize for my abrupt interruption of your evening, but we have a critical situation at hand."  
  
"Can you tell us in an hour?" Tommy hoped against hope, and then received a not-to subtle little elbow from his new girlfriend. "Two hours?"  
  
"Unfortunately, I am unable to comply," Billy replied apologetically. "Three hours ago there was a riot at Zalaria Intergalactic Prison on the far side of the solar system Eltar resides in. There are twenty thousand hardcore galactic prisoners over-running the facility. They have killed over five hundred guards, are holding a thousand more hostage, and have taken command of the prisons defense systems and Authority-Bots. The situation is severe and out of control. If they break the encryption codes to the starship hanger bay they will have access to a means to escape the prison. At last count nearly fifty mid-sized vessels are stationed there."  
  
Hating their friend's bad timing, Tommy and Kim parted, and then walked towards Billy's hologram with no small amount of frustration written on their  
faces.  
   
Tommy sighed, knowing full well that Billy would not be here unless things were really bad. "What do you need?"  
  
"We are assembling a team of eleven Rangers that will rendezvous with a Galactic Alliance strike team. We will attempt to secretly enter the prison and neutralize the threat from within. With this being a black-op mission, we need experienced Rangers who can handle a gun fight and won't fold under pressure. Your names came up as prime candidates for this type of mission."  
  
Clearly exasperated, Kim's arms crossed her chest. Her body still hummed for Tommy, but her mind was already contemplating the news. "If I remember correctly, that prison is on a planet so far from a sun that the prison is set five miles underground. That its impossible to survive on the surface at all."  
  
"Affirmative. The surface of the planet has a temperature of minus three hundred and eighty-seven degrees. It's barely twice the size of our Earth moon. "  
  
Hands stuck in his pockets, Tommy considered, "So we'd be entering a frozen world to traverse five miles underground in hopes of sneaking into a heavily fortified prison overrun by twenty thousand blood-thirty criminals all willing to do anything to escape?"  
  
"That would be a legitimate claim, yes," Billy nodded.  
  
Kim looked to Tommy, who smiled, and then back to Billy. "Sounds like fun."  
  
Never mind their bravado, and that he was pleased to see them reunited after so many years, Billy was all business. "You will be briefed in five Earth hours. Rendezvous coordinates have been pre-programmed in your new Zords."  
  
"New Zords?" they asked as one.  
  
Billy pointed above their heads.  
  
Ten feet above them it appeared as if the sky shattered and light bent in on itself. A shimmering effect twisted as the stealth devices disengaged, revealing a brand new Pink Crane and While Falcon Zord. Sleek and highly updated, their design seemed a merging of yesteryear’s versions with today's hi-tech.  
  
Watching his friends obvious surprise, Billy was most pleased, "So you approve?"  
  
"Absolutely." Kim was highly impressed. She leaned into Tommy. "I know we said it was time to move on and all, but we gotta fly those bad boys."  
  
Having prepared to let this aspect of his life go, the adrenalin was already pumping through his veins. Nonetheless, he wanted to make sure he and Kim were on the same page. Equal in all decisions made. "Last mission?"  
  
Kim nodded. "Last mission." They fist-bumped.  
  
Attempting not to roll his eyes in an uncivilized manner, Billy continued, "In addition, these new Zords come with individual motion and voice controls. They are already calibrated to your voices and are be fully functional..."  
  
"Voice command?" Tommy laughed. "So if I yelled 'FIRE!' it would..."  
  
The twin energy blasts that launched from the White Falcon Zords wings shot so fast, and with such immense force no one had the chance to do anything but stare in complete utter shock as Harry Oliver's little cabin in the mountains was completely obliterated in a violent explosion. The detonating blast threw both Kim and Tommy off their feet as force of it even rattled nearby trees. Literally dozens of pieces of debris rained down softly all around them, as well as a toilet that crashed back to the ground. It was the one and only thing that survived the blast.  
  
Having landed on her butt and with grass in her hair, Kim gaped at Tommy while sitting up, "Really, Tommy?! Really?!!"  
  
"But..."  
  
"First, you burned down your apartment building. And now," her hand extended towards where the cabin once was. Now just a gray-black hole in  
the ground. "You just blew up your uncle's cabin!"  
  
"It was an accident." Tommy said the words, but couldn't steal his eyes away from the hole. What in the world would he say to his uncle?  
  
"Well... this was an unfortunate turn of events," Billy noted with no small amount of sarcasm. "Unforeseen as this occurrence was, I feel we must move with haste or lose the prison entirely. I will handle local authorities and express to them how 'a gas line erupted' before you guys arrived and no one was hurt. We will ensure Harry's insurance company handles the situation accordingly."  
  
Kim stared at the smoldering hole, and then at her bewildered new boyfriend, and then back to the hole where the toilet now sat, and then back  
to her honey. Suddenly, she burst out laughing. Full belly howling laughter as she pointed at him. "I swear, crazy stalks you like a insane ex-girlfriend. You are a walking Lifetime Channel movie. I bet you'd be the first man to get struck by lightening three times in a row in the same spot."  
  
Tommy tried not to laugh. He really did. "You're the best girlfriend ever, Kim."  
  
"I am!" she laughed, swatting his shoulder. "OK, Billy. We're on our way."  
  
"Affirmative. Safe journey." Billy's hologram disappeared.  
  
Peering up at her new Pink Crane Zord, Kim ordered, "Land." Extending its landing gear, the Zord settled softly onto the ground. She turned to  
Tommy. As zany and incredible as what just happened was, Kim knew she'd never been happier. "Race you to the other side of the galaxy?"  
  
After commanding the White Falcon Zord to land, Tommy smiled. "You're on."  
  
"Love you, Mr. Oliver."  
  
"Love you, Ms. Hart."  
  
Moments later the Zords burst skyward, soaring to the stars and new adventures to come.    
   
  
  
******  
  
The End  
  
******  
  
  
Epilogue  
Written by: Rapunzl  
   
Ten Days Later  
  
Harry Oliver sighed, pacing the length of his small living room as he waited on hold for what seemed like an eternity. As he paced, his ears suffering through torturous hold music, he once again passed a photo of what was once his favorite nephew. He snorted. He loved Tommy, he truly did, but how the boy could create a disaster out of seemingly innocent circumstances was just beyond him. He loved his sister, but when she and her husband had chosen to adopt that boy, he had known there was something special about him. But it wasn’t until Tommy was about fourteen that he learned just how “special” he was. He was the kind of boy that could insist on a town because of its martial arts reputation and accidentally move them to a monster-ridden city attacked by aliens. Or buy a brand new Jeep, and totaling it a few days later with some cockamamie story about some sort of Venus Flytrap monster. He was constantly late, constantly forgetful, and how the boy could disappear in a matter of seconds was beyond him. He had hoped he would settle down a little when he started racing, but as naturally talented as he was, he was just distracted enough to put everyone on the track in danger. And with his record, he’d likely burn down the stands as well.  
  
Finally, the terrible music came to an abrupt halt. “State Farm, how can I help you?” The voice was just cheery enough to rub Harry’s last nerve raw. He had loved his cabin. Granted, he hadn’t been out there in… well, quite a while, but it had always been his last refuge from the world’s chaos. He had lent it to Tommy now and again over the last decade or so, but this was honestly the last straw. He had hoped Tommy’s tendency to innocently cause mayhem and destruction wherever he turned had ended about a year ago when he moved out of Reefside, but apparently, he was too hopeful.  
  
“I need to follow up on claim RT48654P,” he groused, flicking the scrap of paper he had scrawled the number on back onto his kitchen table and grabbing a pencil. There was a long pause where he could hear the representative typing furiously over the line as she asked him to hold some more.  
  
The boy was cursed. He had been certain of it years ago, but no one had listened to him. For as much as madness followed him, Tommy himself… well, he was a good man. You couldn’t help but love him and consider him one of the family. He sighed, the anger fading slowly as he came upon his favorite Oliver reunion photo, right after Tommy had graduated with his PhD.  
  
“Yes, sir. That claim was rejected yesterday.”  
  
Then again, it was normal to want to kill family, right?  
  
“What in God’s name do you mean?” he asked, furious. “Why do I you for if not for things like this?”  
  
There was a long pause where the representative was clearly trying to give him time to cool down. She began again, her tone measured and clearly worried about setting him off again. “Sir, the report was examined and the investigator found your… statement of events less than… credible.”  
  
“How,” he asked through gritted teeth, “Is that?”  
  
"Sir, a couple of nearby campers reported to local officials that a beam of light came down from the sky and incinerated your cabin.” The disbelief in her own voice was palpable. “We just don’t seen any indication that this type of… errr... behavior is covered under your policy.”  
  
Harry let out a deep breath and opened his hand, letting the shards of the pencil he had been holding tumble slowly to the ground. This was no good for his blood pressure. And his sister had better appreciate all the trouble…  
  
“My cabin is in Angel Grove,” he stated simply.  
  
There was a furious clacking over the phone as the representative typed something into her computer. “Oh, I see. We’ll be mailing you a check tomorrow, sir. Have a pleasant day.”  
  
  
******  
  
  



	2. Darkness Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity." -   
> Epicurus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: Everything up to and including the end of Dino Thunder. All else is explained and is my AU.
> 
> Disclaimer: Saban owns it all again. If that's a good thing or not remains to be seen.
> 
> Authors Notes: Not every chapter will be as long as this one or the first as I'm using this verse to have fun and touch on a number of different themes. We'll begin a little here adding a focus on other characters even as this remains a Tommy/Kim centric series. Enjoy.
> 
> Authors Notes 2: Be on the lookout for my new Kindle stories under the name "seanbecks" Keep an eye on my profile page for updates and previews.

******  
  
One Month Later  
  
******  
  
  
The N.A.S.A. Board of Directors gala in honor of William Cranston  
The Hampton Tower  
51st Floor  
17 West Niles  
Friday, February 10, 2007 8:30 PM   
Los Angeles, Ca  
  
  
  
"The United States Space Exploration Committee and N.A.S.A. are so very pleased to be gathered here tonight in honor of announcing the newest member of our Board of Directors," N.A.S.A. governing president Kyle Peterson addressed to a jam-packed room of national and international reporters, fellow N.A.S.A. board members, Senators, Congressmen, scientists, and even the President of the United States. The well-respected elder statesman of N.A.S.A. looked out over the crowded hall and smiled, so genuinely pleased to bring aboard such a great mind. Flashbulbs exploded around the broad stage as he continued his   
introduction. "William's remarkably impressive scientific resume and his unprecedented work with advanced technology via his time as a Power Ranger made him a voice we absolutely could not do without as we push the U.S. space program forward. His accomplishments are astonishing as..."  
  
Their willpower was lost the moment Tommy aggressively shoved Kim inside the small, dark office directly adjacent to the sprawling main conference hall where the huge televised presentation was taking place. The sheer hunger she witnessed lit behind his smoldering gaze left her trembling and wet as she back-peddled over the red carpet. He heel-kicked the door shut, locking it with a audible click. Relentless in his pursuit of her, Tommy threw his black Tuxedo jacket to the floor, and then drew her down upon it. There he wrenched her deliciously snug little black dress up over her slender hips, practically snarling with hunger. Her heart raced when he urgently crawled between her parted thighs, took hold of the thin, damp piece of black cotton covering her womanhood and yanked her thong sideways before burying his mouth around her as crowd outside burst into riotous applause.  
  
Uproarious cheers and laughter accompanied Mr. Peterson’s often times humorous approach to public speaking. When Cheron, his beloved wife of twenty-five years gave him a subtle little hand gesture from the audience that he needed to pick up the pace, he winked her way. Years of a good marriage had given them that precious silent talking ability so rare these days. She often teased that he was long-winded, to which he replied he was simply big-lunged and could talk longer than most. He continued as two huge overhead high-definition monitors aired a specially-made video package that accompanied his speech. "From blue Lego blocks to blue overalls to blue spandex and now to the blue boardroom of America's reinvigorated grand movement back to the stars. William Cranston's contributions to the scientific community, to his country, and the world at large echo his intense commitment, character, and skill. He possesses a keen scientific mind, and is incredibly brilliant in that rare once-in-a-lifetime form we can never take for granted. This amazing gentleman accomplished more by the time his high-school senior prom rolled around than most scientist do in a lifetime," he joked before turning serious again. "But first and foremost, I can personally attest to the fact that he is a good man after having worked closely with him the past four years. Entrusted along with his fellow Rangers nothing less than the protection of the entire planet, that sort of responsibility clearly exemplified..."   
  
"Tommy..." she panted his name from behind her right hand covering her mouth. She trembled powerfully, goosebumps tingling over her skin as her neck arched off the floor. The man between her legs fucked her with his tongue until she squirmed over the carpet, her impeccably painted nails digging into the fabric, raking at the fibers. Her left hand braced on top of his head, holding him to her as he slowly massaged her sensitive clit with the wet flat of his tongue, cascading up and down, and then round and round. Her breathing hitched, eyes shut to the darkness, tuning out the loud speech she could hear through the locked door as her hips rocked against his face, feeding him. "Fuck, yes!" she groaned huskily.  
  
"William's personal experience and immense dedication to the advancement of our space endeavors grants us an unprecedented understanding of how future space shuttles should be designed, the state of the galaxy, and what's to be expected out there once we go. As we all know, we are not alone in the universe. As historical as the past seventeen years have been, we must strategically position ourselves for the future. This appointment does just that. Moving forward we must tread at a consistent, responsible pace in order to ensure..."  
  
Her rising moans were the sweetest music to his ears, even slightly muted by her thighs clenching around his head. Several days without her due to her very successful out-of-town business trip and just the sight of her tonight in that damn tight, tiny black dress spiked his desire for her red-hot. Having met her here at the venue as her flight landed late, he had to have her from the very moment he saw her. Damn everything else. And here he was, passionately feasting upon her, his tongue like a paintbrush, lashing the glistening petals of her sex with long, slow strokes. His hands moved up and over her belly to grasp and knead her small breasts through her dress. He felt her nipples peak over his palms, and wanted so badly to taste them if he weren’t already sucking on her like a juicy piece of fruit. His endless, shameless hunger for her was justified when he glanced up from between her legs and saw the sweetest pleasure twisted over her face when she came hard. Shaking, nearly turning her body sideways in a silent wail as her juices slicked his suckling mouth.    
  
"So Cheron, please forgive my long-winded introduction," Mr. Peterson teased to the clearly charmed audience and his equally charmed wife, "Without further adieu, it is my utmost honor and privilege to welcome Mr. William Cranston to the Board of Directors for N.A.S.A." Wearing a genuine smile, Kyle stepped aside as Billy walked onto the stage amidst a hail of applause. He shook his mentor's hand, and then proudly peered out over the large crowd. Past the the flood of C.I.A agents spread throughout the massive hall, news photographers, and camera-men. Jason, Zack, Rocky, Aisha, Adam, Tanya, Katherine, Justin, his father, and his fiancee Sinclair Manchester all sat front-row, cheering wildly as he stood at the podium. "Salutations, everyone. I am deeply, profoundly honored..."  
  
Her nipple hardened in his warm mouth, the tip being suckled firmly. White teeth gritted as the pleasure swept over her. He'd torn the black dress from her body and made love to her breasts, lashing and kissing them as her heart raced. Then he rose to his feet. In the back of her mind she heard Billy being introduced, but was hypnotized by the sight of Tommy tearing off his white dress shirt and bow tie. His suspenders, pants, boxers, and black shoes kicked aside until he lustfully moved over her once more. His cock as hard and thick as she had ever remembered seeing one. Her eyes shut once more when he whispered, "I love you," as he entered her hot inch-by-inch until she was full of him. Her sex stretched deliciously around his solid, bare cock as he began fucking her so damn good. His thrusts surged deeply, rocking them over his tuxedo jacket, grunting and panting in the dark. She drug his warm mouth down to hers as her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. All she had on were her black high heels as they kissed soulfully while vigorously fucking on the floor of the empty, dark office.  
  
"... thank you Sinclair, for helping me pick out this extravagantly expensive black Armani Collezioni tuxedo," Billy teased his stunning fiancee of two months who sat front-row at this proud occasion. She was born to wear Versace, but more than the sinfully gorgeous blonde vision she made, her mind was razor sharp. Focused. Driven. Ambitious. He surmised she likely got it from her father, retired Army General and current U.S. Senator Frank Manchester. Standing there felt surreal, to a degree. This was a new world even for him. A far more political one that he was still learning to navigate. But the Earth was no longer a unknown world to the galaxy at large. As its seven billion eyes were now set to the heavens, alien eyes stared back and not all with the best of intentions. But that was a behind closed doors discussion for another day. Here tonight, there were many faces he recognized that were all a part of his strange journey through life. And though Tommy and Kim's seats were vacant, he knew they were here. He'd seen them both earlier and knew how genuine their affection for him was and how happy they were to be here. "I was called a geek and a nerd in school, and can remember hating those names so much because they made me feel as though there was something wrong with me. I wasn't very good at sports and I loved to read. Science was my sport of choice. I worked out every single day in my sport. And now I wear those titles proudly as I'm still both, only now I'm very rich," he sarcastically declared to the whistles and applause. "My mother passed away when I was three years old, and I hope she is proud of the man I've become. First and foremost, I'd like to thank my father. Jonathon Cranston was a good, hard-working man raising a child all alone and he never complained or ducked any responsibility he had. He wasn't a genius or a scientist or anything like that. He worked at the same factory for twenty-nine years. And even though he was a sports fanatic and I wasn’t," his voice cracked as emotion swept over him. "Even though the highest grade of education he'd ever reached was community college while I graduated M.I.T with duel Masters degree's... even though we were just two very different people, he was and is my hero. He encouraged my pursuit of higher education. He instilled in me a great sense of self-worth and pride in who I was long before the man you see today. I owe my character and honor to my father. He loved me for who I was, and still does. Dad, will you please stand and be recognized. None of this would be possible without you." With the use of a cane, Jonathon Cranston rose to his feet as the audience roared with applause.  
  
When Kimberly bit the shell of his ear, gasping that she loved him the soft, sensual tone of her voice practically curled around his cock. Her sexy little grunts as their hips collided faster left him shaking above her. Her inner muscles squeezed around him so pleasurably, so tightly as he fucked her with long, deep thrusts. Damn the carpet burn on his knees, he just couldn't get enough of her. She smelled so good and tasted so sweet. Her love roared through his bloodstream like a out of control locomotive and he just couldn't stop thinking about her. He marked her neck, sucking wildly, while pounding into her, lunging deeply as she cried out, her arms clutching around his neck. He was sure they'd ruined his tuxedo jacket. He couldn't have cared less. Her crimson painted nails clawed at his sweaty back as he fed her every damn inch of him, deeply stroking into her. Kissing her, claiming her as his no matter the loud gala going on just ten feet away outside this office. They rutted on the floor like animals, fucking in a intense frenzy of grunts and swears until she bucked hard beneath him, clenching around him in tight waves, cumming with his name dripping passionately from her lips.     
  
"The purest, most base purpose of science is to better mankind. Its something I hold true to this very day, and as I graciously accept this position I want to promise you all that we are not simply rebuilding N.A.S.A. and America's space program to be ready for the future. We are going back into space within the next five years, and not just to the moon. Our goals are beyond the stars. History tells us..."  
  
As her hips rolled and rocked over his lap, riding him at a urgent gallop, Kimberly thoroughly engaged Tommy in a fiery, soulful kiss. Her smooth legs glided over his tensing thighs as she rode him, rocking back on his lap all the way down, her tongue gliding around his mouth as they made love. He felt so hard inside her as she moved over him, up and down as his strong hands possessively held onto her bare ass. She felt him thrusting up into her, loving how little control he had left as she rode him harder. As her name escaped his lips the harder she grinded over his lap. Every time he groaned her name through gritted teeth her nipples tingled. She wanted, needed, desired and craved this man in a way that made her feel like this was some sort of madness they'd descended into. And yet she intended for them to drown together. Her eye lids fluttered when she felt him swell inside her, his body writhing beneath hers. Her hips curled like a snake, riding him faster, melting around him as her slick inner walls closed tightly. His whole body stiffened, and then he grunted so loudly how much he loved her, all while coming deep inside her, his cock erupting in warm liquid surges so satisfying all he could do was hold onto her for dear life. And with every burst inside her she clenched around him, draining him of every last drop of essence he had until his last breath escaped his lips in a sated gasp.  
  
"... Let us venture forth as Earthlings and not simply as a particular race, culture, or nation. We are one on this planet, and that is how we will face what is to come. In closing, thank you Mr. Peterson and the board of directors for this amazing opportunity. I will work tirelessly to not let you down. I am so honored to be joining your staff and I can't wait until the day we can someday look to the stars and say 'We are from Earth, and we are ready to join you.' Ladies and gentlemen, thank you and goodnight." Roaring applause and whistles rang out as he acknowledged the cheering crowd, and then shook the hand of President Connors. He nodded at his proud dad, exchanged a smile with his fiancee, and then all of his oldest, dearest friends. In the back he caught sight of Kim waving wildly, and jacket-less Tommy clapping loudly. They appeared a bit rumpled and ragged, which made him grin wildly at what was likely to be the gossip to end all gossip once whatever kept them away got out. As it was Trini and Kat launched out of their chairs after the newly reunited couple.  
  
Yes, tonight was a very, very good night. One of the best of his entire life.   
  
And yet...  
  
He still felt a bit removed from it all. No matter the chair at the big boys table he now held, Billy knew he was already one of, if not the most powerful man on the planet. Chief Earth liaison to the Galactic Ranger Alliance, it was on his word when and where to build their Arizona desert base. And it will be on his word, at a time of his choosing, that the governments are granted access to advanced alien technology. Even with the President of the United States present at this dinner in his honor, that man could no more tell him what to do than the waiter at his table.   
  
Billy Cranston commanded the most dangerous weapons on the planet. And those who wielded them.   
  
Taking the board of directors chair meant Earth was willing to listen to his instruction, and little more. They would not gain access to technology or information if they didn't follow the guidelines he set forth to safely venture outside the planet. They weren’t ready yet, but they would be in time as they now accepted that it was his way or no way.  
  
Quite a feat holding the entire planet's space progress in the palm of your hand.  
  
The next two hours were a world-wind of hand shakes, hugs, interviews, and photos. Friends and family were genuine in their affections, while the actually board members reactions ranged from truly accepting to guarded optimism to outright, though privately, fearful. Publicly they would say and do the right things, but behind closed doors he knew there were those that hated he wouldn't just give the United States government anything it wanted. In Billy's eyes the progress and sharing of advanced alien technology had to be global or not at all. And it had to be in tiny bites and not a whole buffet meal.  
  
Peering over the crowd in a quiet, reflective moment he recalled being on his death-bed on Aquitar. Aging faster than even their vaunted tech could handle, he saved his own life. Found through science, as always, served him best. Served him...  
  
Science never failed him. Even when his health had. Even when Cestria had found she could watch him suffer no more... even when she refused to see him after he had cured himself. Even when his deeply introverted heartache choked his spirit.  
  
Billy knew he wasn't the same man he used to be. Leading Earth's Ranger Initiative came with an expected skill-set he wasn't as comfortable with as Tommy and Jason were even as teenagers. He had the knowledge and the analytical ability to pick apart any situation, but leading men and women in life and death situations... he still worked best in a lab than out in the field. Yet out there, where he sent his brave soldiers, a part of him wondered if they would ever see him as one of them.   
  
Not just the commanding voice, but a capable field commander they could rely on in a fox hole.  
  
That angry old wound that disrespected his immense knowledge because he wasn't the Alpha Male type... though now that wasn't exactly the case. Jason and Tommy, Alpha Males if there ever was one, followed his lead without fail. And yet a bitter side of him still wondered if he could fill their shoes. If he was good enough. Able to weather more than the scientific side of what they do.   
  
He was only thirty-two, yet sometimes felt much, much older. Lonely. Misunderstood. Even out of touch with his oldest friends. Almost dying changed him. Having his heart crushed didn't help. And then having the weight of the planet put on his shoulders... he had a lot to live up to.   
  
And the pressure was mounting.  
  
   
  
******  
  
16 Days Later  
  
******  
  
  
Kim and Tommy's apartment  
17 W. Abbington Drive  
Sunday, February 26, 2007  
8:30 PM  
San Diego, California  
  
  
  
Seated oh-so-comfortably atop her brand new California King bed, which was really Tommy's old bed now relocated into her... their bedroom, Kim watched a new episode of Lost she missed earlier in the week while trying to wrap her mind around exactly who the 'Others' were and why they were pretending to be red-neck island dwellers when they had a pretty awesome underwater submarine.  
  
Munching Flaming Hot Cheetos while nursing an ice cold Diet Pepsi, the former Pink Ranger enjoyed peaceful tranquility. She was working remotely from home tomorrow, so there would be no reason she couldn't sleep in. Work, in and of itself had picked up remarkably in the last three months, especially with her traveling more lately. And then there was her amazing personal life that was the icing on the cake. Having a man in her life didn't make her happy. Being in love and having a companion that she truly enjoyed being around did.   
  
Hot, bed-breaking sex aside, she felt her life was pretty awesome these days. And with Tommy's new 'Man Cave', a.k.a 'The Peoples Republic of Tommy' as he cutely coined it, she had somewhere to send him when he got on her nerves or wanted to watch sports or play video games. Love him though she did, and dearly so, a woman sometimes needed her man to just go away for a little while.  
  
And when she didn't want to share her Flaming Hot Cheetos. Like Superman with Kryptonite, they were her one and only weakness.  
  
Dressed to impress in her incredibly comfortable Yogi Bear pajamas, through the closed bedroom door she could faintly hear the pure glee of grown men watching NFL football, eating deep-dish pizza, drinking, and playing Xbox 360 video games. She smiled at them having such a good   
time.  
  
Tommy, who possessed a very, very healthy bank account decked out his old bedroom into the most awesome bedroom 'Man Cave' ever. First came the two wall-mounted 50'inch HD televisions. One for sports, the other for gaming so that both could be done at the same time. She still hadn't pried out of him how he was able to convince the landlord to let him mount those TV's on the wall, but he was allowed his little secrets. Minus his bed and dressers, his comfort furniture of choice was a Italian leather sectional and a full-sized refrigerator just for the snacks and food necessary to enjoy such a place. Tonight’s grand gala saw Jason, Rocky, Adam, and Justin all on hand to enjoy the opening ceremonies for the 'Peoples Republic of Tommy'.  
  
Men loved Football, food, alcohol, and video games. Tommy's 'Man Cave' was Y-Chromosome heaven. Still, she was the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the Peoples Republic of Tommy. They knew to stay in line less she strike them down with a communist fury.   
  
Lounging comfortably on the huge bed all by her lonesome, Kim didn't mind at all. She snickered at the "Wooo's" and "Ahh's" emanating from across the hall as the guys watched the New England Patriots play the Indianapolis Colts. The new Call of Duty game was obviously being played as shouts of "You got sniped," and "How could you die so many times so fast," were overheard.  
  
Eh, let'em have their fun. She had Sawyer, Flaming hot Cheetos, and the TV remote all to herself.   
  
When the guys all arrived she greeted and talked to them, but was happy to leave them to a guys-only night as she had a great book to read, her favorite show to watch, and a hot boyfriend who after the guys left will fuck her to Happy Land and then make her some awesome strawberry pancakes in the morning.  
  
Yeah, life was pretty damn good for Kimberly Hart.    
  
Lying back, her eyes shut for a moment, she listened for Tommy's voice and quickly found it. A little smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She was crazy in love with him, and couldn’t recall a time in her whole life that she was happier than she was right now. There was something about what she shared with him that felt so right. And as guarded as she's been over the years with her heart, she couldn't be that way with him if she tried.   
  
He was probably the one.  
  
She says probably in her mind cause it sounds crazy to ever truly know if someone is the one until he's on one knee asking you to spend the rest of your life with him and you have to think in that short period of time, is that what you want too. Yeah, she knows she over thinks everything, but at this age that's not likely to change. Complex, slightly psychotic, slightly neurotic, mildly crazy, majorly awesome, quirky-cool, world-class giver of great hugs, and possessing a wealth of Get-Shit-Doneness best described her in her own head.  
  
Kim Hart was a unique kind of person. And she was hot. Her boyfriend said so. So did their next-door neighbor. And though Harry Minser was blind, he could hear her hotness. That's her story and she's sticking to it.  
  
So she had a great new boyfriend, who was her old boyfriend, and maybe future... wow, he might be the hubby one day. She smiled to herself, having never thought they'd get there because really, who in the real world ever married their high school sweetheart? Life wasn't a romance novel. But the wonderful thing about life was that it never stays the same. It goes on, always. They were able to fix what was broken and create something new. Now was the time to nurture it. Let it grow. Take great care of it. and then get Tommy to a jeweler and a diamond on her hand the size of Mars that would give her Carpal Tunnel syndrome every time she raised it to show people the ring.   
  
Tossing a Cheeto in the air, she caught it in her mouth and gave a little fist-pump. Life was all about those small victories. Across the room she caught sight of her overnight bag and knew she had to start packing in a few days. Aisha's bachelorette party was coming up fast and it was going to be out of this world... literally.  
  
A knock at the door suddenly caught her attention. She playfully shouted, "JUMP OUT THE WINDOW QUICK! ITS MY BOYFRIEND! HE KNOWS KARATE! RUN!!"  
  
Grinning, Tommy entered the bedroom, and then quietly shut the door behind him. "You can never be normal, can you?"  
  
"You wouldn't love me if I were normal."   
  
Tommy crawled over the bed after her, hunting her soft mouth... claiming it with a hungry kiss that saw her hands clutch at his shirt. His fingers tangled in her hair, drawing her closer as his other arm closed tightly around her slender frame. He affectionately pulled her on top of him, his warm mouth dancing over hers as she straddled his lap. Her soft moaning had him rock hard in seconds, his hands now roaming her lower back beneath her pajama top. She tasted like Flaming Hot Cheetos and Pepsi. She tasted like heaven. Like everything he wanted and needed in the world.  
  
Breaking their fiery kiss, Kim panted over his lips, their noses nearly touching. She whispered with her eyes shut, oh so seductively, "You are not going to fuck me with our friends in the next room across the hall." His little growl made her smile, and then her mouth parted with a little tremble when his hard cock flexed over her center. She softly rocked over the thick length, forcing another growl from the pit of his throat. "Nope. Not gonna happen."  
  
"You're evil," Tommy whispered, his tongue brushing wetly over the side of her neck before sucking over her pulse. The slight sting of her nails digging in his chest when he marked her fair skin made him shiver. He ached to flip her over, tear off her clothes and bury his cock so deep inside her... "I missed you."  
  
"Its half-time, isn't it?" She felt rather than saw his smile. He was totally adorable at times. "Who's winning?"  
  
"Who cares," he snarled, kissing her once more. When she pulled away once more, teasing him, he desired to bend her over his knee and spank her bare   
ass. But when she tucked her head against his chest, just under his chin he loved her more than his own life. He gently caressed the side of her face with his fingers. "I did miss you."  
  
She believed him because she missed him too. They were still so new and this was just huge... this growing love between them. This hot passion that she'd never felt burn like this before. Tossing her hair back, she gazed into his eyes. "I know. It's cute."  
  
His brow rose. "Cute?"  
  
"Yeah," she nodded, her eyes lit with mischief. "Despite being surrounded by your best buds, football, pizza, beer, and video games you miss your totally awesome girlfriend. Hence the cuteness."  
  
She made his heart skip a beat. He was powerless to her charm. He was smiling and he didn't even know it. "So what are you up too?  
  
"Catching up on Lost," she remarked, and then felt his hips grind into her. Felt him so hard pressed against her center. Her thigh muscles clenched in traitorous response. She loved the heat of his breath over her neck, and the way his hands gripped her slender hips. "Munching Cheetos. Plotting to take over the world. Typical Sunday night stuff."  
  
It was exhilarating to be in love again. Most importantly being that it was with her. "Why don't you throw on some clothes and come watch the game with us?"  
  
"I'd rather watch Sawyer walk around the island with his shirt off?"  
  
"What does Sawyer have that I don't have?"  
  
"A sexy Southern drawl. Blue eyes. Con artists skills. Shall I go on?" His glare made her laugh out loud, and then firmly smooch him on the mouth. "He doesn't compare to my Rainbow Brite Ranger in any way."  
  
"Yours?"  
  
"Forever." When his strong hands squeezed her ass a protest died on the tip of her tongue when he sucked it in his mouth, vigorously kissing her. She was hauled firmly to his chest, held tightly as his mouth wetly plundered hers until she wanted all of him in her now! The man made her want to fuck just by how lustfully he kissed her. She was that far gone.  
  
And then her emergency Ranger communicators went off on the night-stand. They halted mid-kiss, both turning their heads. Dreadful, frigid water doused their passion. The sound was unmistakable.  
  
A 'Category 10' off-world disaster alert.  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
"The Little House"  
Galactic Rangers Alliance Earth Headquarters  
Level 25 - 'The War Room'  
The Mojave Desert  
Sunday, February 26, 2007  
9:50 PM  
Northwestern Arizona  
The United States  
  
  
The holographic video footage was unmistakable. Undeniable.   
  
A gorgeous, vivid sunset darkened into an unholy black as a massive object streaked across the sky before slamming into the heart of Zino City. Its towering skyscraper-hotels, so immense it was teased they kissed the clouds crumbled to nothing as the entire area was vaporized in a enormous mushroom cloud of red-death. The sprawling resort landscape burst into monumental wall of pure fire that mercilessly devoured everything in its destructive path.  
  
"The situation before us is grim to say the least," Billy noted in an ominous tone, his face softly shaded in a bluish hue as he stood before the massive planetary holographic image at the front of the Rangers 'War Room'. The ceiling-mounted projector revealed actual footage from ground-zero of Zino City. Present were Tommy, Kim, Rocky, Justin, Trini, Jason, Zack, and Katherine. Seated quietly, learning exactly what brought them in tonight from all over the country. "Twenty-five hours ago the planet Rethirion was hit by a colossal asteroid. As you can see here," he pointed to Galactic Alliance drone footage of the extensive devastation, "The impact crater is nine thousand miles wide, and three miles deep. It would span the continental United States. Everything in the area was vaporized almost instantly."  
  
Satellite imagery revealed the red swarm of fire as it spread across the   
world. Billy continued, "The cataclysmic global effect of the crash via thermal radiation escalated quickly, destroying cities both on ground and underwater. The loss of life is catastrophic. The world will become un-inhabitable within forty-eight hours."  
  
Wide-eyed terror stalked the expression of all who were present. Horrific images of mammoth tidal waves consuming entire metropolitan cities, followed by a massive starship spaceport being swallowed in a miles wide sinkhole clearly illustrated this was an extinction level event.  
  
Tension in his jaw aside, Billy continued the briefing. "The Galactic Alliance have rerouted thirty Vision-class heavy capacity transport ships to the region, but Rethirion is literally on the other end of where they currently are."  
  
Nearly in tears, Kim shook her head in disgust at the sheer catastrophe of it all. "How long will it take the ships to arrive?"  
  
"Two days," Billy replied, knowing full well what that meant. He saw Zack lower his head, while Katherine looked away, sadly. "No other ships of the size of the Vision-class transports will be able to reach the planet in time. But there are thirty smaller starships from a number of worlds en-route to attempt to rescue as many survivors as they can. That's where we come in. We can reach Rethirion in six hours to assist in the rescue of anyone still alive."  
  
Drinking from a steaming coffee mug, Jason tilted his face to the projection. There were no words to describe what he was seeing. His mind shifted to the mission at hand. "Tell me more about the planet?"  
  
"Rethirion is, for all intents and purposes, Hawaii in space. A paradise resort-world three times the size of Earth. Its population is around four billion natives, with as many as twelve billion total when accounting for off-world visitors."   
  
Shock and awe nearly choked Trini as she spoke. "How many people can we hope to find alive?"  
  
"Thousands, at best," Billy reported. "This is simply us doing our very best to save as many lives as we can. The planet is utterly lost."  
  
Reaching for Kimberly's hand, Tommy took it in his own, giving it a little squeeze. The sheer amount of lives lost was humbling to say the least. "How many ships are in orbit or on the ground right? What are they reporting? And how many will be there when we arrive?"  
  
"Several ships landed thirty minutes ago, but quickly filled to capacity with the wounded. They are already in space towards the nearest medical facilities. As for their reports, the specifics will be made available to you in your Zords. The most simple description I have read is that this world has been destroyed," Billy offered grimly. "As for our arrival, we will rendezvous with eleven more mid-sized vessels and attack the rescue effort two-fold. One, we will begin constructing a long-range teleportation signal to facilitate a faster rescue effort. Two, we will save as many lives on the ground as we can. We have little time to prepare, but we will do the very best that we can."  
  
Jason nodded, rising to his feet. "Is anything still working on the surface? Communications? Infrastructure? Anything we can scan, hack, or pick up on the find survivors?"  
  
"There are thousands of distress signals going off all over the planet. Its a matter of, and I don't say this lightly, prioritizing the needs of the many over the needs of the few."  
  
The former Red Ranger didn’t like the sound of that as all life was precious, but he understood the burdens of leadership and the need to make the tough call. "If its been a full day already, and we're going to lose six more reaching the world, how long will it be safe for us to stay?"  
  
Justin chimed in. "From the initial reports we have, several hours at best. By then the atmosphere, radiation, and earthquakes will make the planet impossible to inhabit."  
  
"Then what are we waiting for," Kim declared. "Lets go to work." As the team assembled in preparation of leaving the War Room, Billy spoke up.  
  
"I'm not staying Earth-bound for this mission. I intend to lead it, personally."  
  
Jason, Tommy, and Trini exchanged a look. Not of shock, but of quiet contemplation. Billy seemed on edge, to a degree.   
  
"Come'on, guys," Rocky interjected. "That world ain't gonna save itself."  
  
  
******  
  
Eight Hours Later  
    
******  
  
  
  
Planet "Rethirrion"  
Monday, February 27, 2007 5:50 AM  
  
  
  
  
Blustering gusts of violent winds rattled the Falcon Zord and its cargo bay door as it slowly withdrew beneath the tail-end of the winged Zord. From the narrow landing ramp, Tommy and Kimberly gazed out over the vast Ajurru ocean off the coast of Korja City as gigantic rolling waves licked at the dark night sky.   
  
The tremendous current was so dangerous no one but a Ranger was allowed to even attempt this rescue mission. As it was, the word 'suicide' best described it.  
  
While holding tight to handle-mounts as the Falcon Zord shook powerfully, the two Rangers watched in horror as a massive waves viciously raced towards the once heavily-populated tourist city in the far distance. In its terrible path, scores of ion-boats, tankers, and luxury cruise ships were being ripped asunder. Some were tossed high in the air, torn in half, while others sank to the depths never to be seen again. The sheer carnage was beyond anything either of them had ever seen.  
  
Nonetheless, duty called.  
  
"Kat, can you pinpoint the exact location of the Monolith?!" Kim shouted above the howling winds into her wrist communicator while doing a last second check of her black deep-sea jet pack. Tommy did the same behind her, both holding onto wall-mounts with one hand as the Zord rumbled sideways.    
  
From the cockpit, Kat struggled just to keep the Zord level. The throttle of her control stick shot up through her hands and wrists. "Three Earth miles east below the surface, and I'm sending the Monolith's exact coordinates to your individual helmet navi-computers."  
  
Slipping one side over her shoulder, Tommy helped Kim load the three-hundred pound jet-pack onto her back, strapping its harness into place. Their augmented Ranger strength, albeit temporary, made bearing the extra weight a   
non-issue. "What else do we know, Kat?"  
  
The blond Ranger shouted into her comm, "All contact with the Monolith was lost three hours ago, although it managed to send a garbled distress call before the signal went black. The entire planet's communications infrastructure has been compromised and there's just no way of even knowing if anyone is still alive down there."  
  
"We have to try," Kim noted as she helped Tommy strap his deep-sea jet pack onto his pack, hooking his harness into place. "The Monolith was carrying nearly two thousand passengers. Because of the wide-spread devastation we can't spare any Zords or other relief shuttles. It's us or nothing."  
  
Though concerned greatly, Katherine nodded as she soared the Falcon Zord through the rolling clouds. "You two just be careful."   
  
"You too." Sharing a worried glance with Kim, Tommy grabbed his helmet, and then synced his communicator with hers for the harsh underwater conditions they were about to face. And with so many lives on the line, they didn't have a moment to spare. "Kat, we're jumping in twenty seconds. Soon as we're clear aim skyward and get the hell out of this storm. Rendezvous with Billy's ground team. And please don't crash my Zord."  
  
"Copy that, Rainbow Ranger," Kat replied with a smirk from the pilot's chair before her tone turned serious. "Beware of aftershocks, guys. Once you're down there you're all on your own. There won't be a second rescue attempt. We won't be able to teleport you out of there."  
  
The tension mounted as the Rangers took in the dire gravity of the situation. Tommy gently tugged at Kim's wrist. "Keep in constant radio contact with me at all times."   
  
Kim gave a nod, but recognized that daring look in his eyes. "No heroics either," she warned. "Deal?"  
  
"Deal." Tommy then flashed her a flirtatious grin. "I don't suppose you could spare a kiss for luck."  
  
Kimberly narrowed her gaze at him, and then just for the hell of it, she blew him a little one. "Catch ya on the flip side." With a parting chuckle she donned her helmet, and then leapt from the edge of the ramp, rapidly soaring through the air until she hit the ocean with a splash and disappeared into the deep.   
  
"Time to go to work!" Tommy dove in after her, soaring through the night sky until he hit the frigid waters below. His helmet's internal radar quickly found Kimberly less than twenty-feet away. "Engage deep-sea jet packs."  
  
Their black back-packs lifted outward from their shoulders, revealing twin handle bars that bent forward over their chests. Two propeller columns protruded outward from their sides. In the front of the jet-pack a bright sea-light burst through the dark. Each Ranger grabbed onto their jet-packs handle-bars and then engaged the propeller columns. A hum of energy flowed as the deep-sea jet packs rocketed them towards the oceans floor.  
  
Blurry as far as the eye could see, far unlike the gorgeous blue seas the luxury world was known for made navigating towards the huge vessel a great undertaking. Schools of Rig'Tina fish, each the size of a four-door sedan swam agitated around them, unsure what was going on as groups of other colorful fish and sea life floated lifelessly.  
  
"Look ahead, to the far left!" Kim pointed out. A gigantic zig-zagging fissure in the oceans floor was evidence on an incredibly powerful earthquake. The crack stretched for miles. "Keep your eyes out for debris. Our visibility down here isn't near as good as I hoped it would be."  
  
"Using teleportation would have made this rescue mission a breeze."  
  
"No way it would work with all the funky radiation levels in the atmosphere. If we tried to teleport a group of people we'd likely end up with some kind of grisly triple-person." She heard Tommy laugh in her helmet, and smiled. Her boy-toy was easily amused. "Those super fish are freaking me out. I can't get over that one of those fish are bigger than my car."  
  
"When I look at them all I can see are about two-thousand McDonald’s Fish Fillets." He heard her snicker in his ear. "Let me guess. Now you're hungry, right?"  
  
"Shut up," she smiled, hating that he knew her all to well.  
  
They descended side-by-side, making sure to keep as much distance between them and the Rig'Tina's as possible. "At least the Monolith is big enough to trace," Tommy said as they piloted past a wide ravine of rocks, having finally reached the bottom of the ocean. "How you holding up?"  
  
"My oxygen is good. Weapons are checked. I'm just hoping we find survivors."  
  
"I didn't mean it that way."  
  
Kim knew that, swallowing at the caring tone of his voice. "I don't think you ever get used to seeing dead bodies, much less children. And I don't care if they're human or alien." She sighed, "We'll be alright."  
  
Tommy had the utmost faith in her. And together, he knew they could accomplish anything. Up ahead his internal helmet sensor began beeping wildly. It found something. And it was big! "Over that gorge!"  
  
"Gotta be the Monolith!"  
  
Both Rangers engaged their jet pack engines to full blast, streaking over a sprawling gorge that finally revealed the Monolith.  
  
Coined by off-worlders as "The Jewel of the Sea," it weighed in at unbelievable one-hundred and thirty-eight thousand tons. The luxury vessel was a bit over two thousand feet in length the twenty-seven deck grand liner was one of the most incredible things to experience in the galaxy. A technologically-advanced undersea vessel so mammoth it was for all intents and purposes a small mobile city of the sea.   
  
Now the humongous gold bullet-shaped submarine lay on its side, resting on the ocean floor. Half the decks were still lit, while the others were pitch black. Lifeless. And from the left tail end, an enormous tear was taking in so much water the Rangers wondered if all they'd found was a underwater tomb.  
  
"I'm trying to hail anyone on board," Kim called out while programming her wrist communicator to transmit on all known alien frequencies in a attempt to reach anyone alive. Her eyes narrowed. "So far, I'm just getting static."  
  
"On all channels?"  
  
"Yes," Kim replied. "They're best hope would be if they Ray-shielded off an entire floor."  
  
"We enter through the tear," Tommy pointed toward the huge metallic gash along the back of the gigantic vessel.  
  
"Right behind you."   
  
They pressed latches on their shoulder blades that released each device. After shrugging them off they began swimming toward the fifty-foot tear of the grand ship.  
  
They entered through the ragged opening, their Ranger helmet-lights illuminated what appeared to be a cavernous hall.  
  
"Schematics say this was the Onsheair restaurant," Kimberly noted as dozens of alien corpses floated lifelessly around them. All still dressed in various forms of stylish attire. Men, women.... even children were dead. Pushing her heart aside, her interior scanner was set to seek out the vital signs of all known species. Alas, she found not a single survivor. "These people were overwhelmed as soon as one of the aftershocks launched the Monolith against that Vakrin reef. They didn't stand a chance."  
  
The devastation was absolute as Tommy scanned a long flight of Gorshen marble stairs. Dozens of bodies were piled high atop each other, evidence of those attempting to flee with no clue what was happening. The Rangers ventured deeper into the extravagant restaurant, over a grand circular open-bar and past the sprawling chefs kitchen area. Beneath them were rows of toppled tables, splintered chairs, silverware, and inoperable droid-servers. The dead bodies were so many he swallowed hard in the back of his throat, having to actually push some of them aside as they made their way to the entrance doors. "Dammit!"  
  
Kim's eyes shut, and then slowly re-opened. She sighed, "They never engaged the Ray-shields."  
  
"Probably didn't have time," Tommy offered as he pushed at the double entrance doors and found them easy to open. Ray-shields would have held the oncoming water back using a energy-light wall of sorts that would have been air-tight. It would have signaled that the tear was contained and the probability of finding survivors would have increased exponentially.  
  
But as the Rangers came into the wide open hallway... so many dead bodies... Broken mirrors, paintings, expensive rugs, and detached wall-fixtures littered the dark path ahead. Debris was everywhere as the sight before them was beyond gruesome. Their individual helmet-lights spanned the gigantic floor.  
  
But then Tommy found a faint beeping sensor inside his helmet. "Kim..."  
  
"I got it too. Its a energy signature," she smiled hopefully. "Something's working on this ship." She swam behind Tommy up to a wall-panel, doing her best to ignore the faces of the dead all around them. Though some were quite exotic looking, while others weren't that far from human looking, they were all someones family.   
  
Tommy ripped the wall-panel off and looked closely at the security array. With the interior flooded, their options were few. "We need to re-establish as much power as we can to see if the escape pods are operational in case we find someone alive."  
  
Kim knew he was hoping they'd find survivors. "The ship reportedly has enough for every single passenger, crew member, and a additional two hundred. According to the schematics we have, they are all on Deck 7. We're on Deck 21."  
  
Tommy gave a nod. "Set coordinates for that faint signal and go! I'm heading to the engine room. We need to see what's working on Deck 7 and what isn't. Without those escape pods I don't know how we'd get anyone we did find alive to the surface."  
  
"Okay, sounds like a plan," Kim replied. "Remember, no heroics. You promised," she pointed at him.   
  
"Hey, I'm the greatest Ranger ever."  
  
"And that attitude is what I'm afraid of." She watched him swim away down a long dark corridor. As capable as he was, she would always worry about him. Her heart belonged to him, and if something happened she... there was work to do.  
  
The Pink Ranger vigorously swam through a sprawling casino area, complete with rows of holographic slot machines, game hover-tables, empty drink glasses, and inactive waitress droids. Galactic credits and the dead hung helplessly all around her as she maneuvered around them through a exit until she found a shadowy hallway elevator.   
  
"Here goes nothing." Using her augmented Ranger strength, she pried the doors open, entered, and then used her blaster to carve a ragged hole in the ceiling of the elevator car. When the oval metal hub slowly sank to the floor she ascended through the hole, her helmet light illuminating the flooded elevator shaft.  
  
Thankful she wasn't in the least bit claustrophobic, Kim quickly swam up through the elevator shaft, moving ever closer towards the energy signal that began beeping faster. With each deck she passed her hope faded as the severe flooding and bodies seemed without end. Onward she pushed, duty first and always.  
  
On Deck 18 her perseverance paid off.      
  
After kicking through the elevator shaft doors, she maneuvered inside a wide gateway area that led to a massive dance hall and found the entire entrance Ray-shielded. Her heart began racing. Having conversed with Rethirrion authorities, she attuned her wrist communicator to the Ray-shields frequency.   
  
Swimming toward the violet wall of light, her body easily passed through it as she fell to the floor. Upon lifting her head she found herself quickly surrounded by ten well-armed Rethirrions and a entire hall full of survivors. Dozens of them. Scared. Hurt. But alive. "Jackpot!" She adjusted her helmet to translate her words into the Rethirrion language. Lifting her hands, Kim boldly declared, "I'm the Pink Ranger from Earth. I'm here to rescue you. Please, all of you, put down those weapons right now."  
  
"STAND DOWN! STAND DOWN!" was shouted from within the thick crowds of scared alien guests as a Rethirrion raced toward the Pink Ranger. Clearly out of breath as his robust size didn't compliment his diminutive height of barely over five-foot five, his dark uniform bore the same crest as the armed guards. But he wore a sleek shoulder vest bearing the mark, as well as a more commanding tone of voice. His wrinkled face betrayed his advanced age as well. "I am Zion Utes," he announced impatiently.  
  
A Zion was on Rethirrion what a captain was on Earth. Kim greeted him with a polite bow. "My name is Kimberly, and I’m one of the Rangers from Earth. My partner, the White Ranger, is currently trying to engage the power relays for the deck that houses the escape pods. Are they operative? Has anyone used them yet?"  
  
Zion Utes peered away suddenly, his hands trebling before he finally addressed the Pink Ranger. He hadn't expected a rescue, assuming they were on their own after all this time. He finally met her gaze. "We have partial power restored on Deck 7, yes... we were just about to begin evacuating... shortly, that is."  
  
There was something about his initial reaction to seeing her that wasn't right. He gave off a bad vibe Kim didn’t like in the least. And though the armed Rethirrion guards around her lowered their weapons, none holstered them yet. "Give me a moment," Kim asked, before lifting her communicator. "Tommy, where are you?"  
  
'I'm in the engine room,' he began. 'None of the crew made it, but emergency power to Deck 7 is restored. Not sure how much longer that will last though. You found anything?'  
  
Kim's gaze narrowed at the Zion, who looked far less than pleased to see her, which made no sense at all. "I'm with the Zion and his guard detail, along with a number of survivors. Looks close to a hundred or so. We have wounded here, so I'm about to begin evacuations. My schematics show a route up five flights of stairs and through a un-flooded service tunnel that will get us to Deck 7. How soon can you get here?"  
  
'I'm not coming, Kim. The Plasma-energy core is overheating and we don't have any way cool it. The emergency jettison is crushed and inoperable. I'm going to have to blast a new opening through the engine rooms hull and drag it out of here,' he explained. 'This thing has the power of a small nuclear bomb and it may go off within the next thirty minutes or less. I have to get it as far away from here as possible.'  
  
Cold dread swept over Kimberly. Shutting her eyes briefly, she hoped her tone conveyed how serious she was. "You promised me no heroics."  
  
'I promised you my heart,' Tommy said. 'I intend to keep that promise. I won't let anything hurt you. Not while I'm alive. Not even if it kills me.'  
  
Did she really want to kiss and strangle him at the same time? "Cut the Alpha Male bullshit and just be careful, alright," she tried to sound casual, but it came off tense. "Do what you have to do, and then... come back to me."  
  
'Always.'  
  
Kim lowered her hand, and then walked up to the Zion as the crowds clustered and began shouting their questions and dire worry. "Everyone please calm down! I am about to start coordinating the evacuation."  
  
"MAKE THE ZION TELL THE TRUTH!"  
  
"HE'S LYING!!"  
  
"HE'S BEEN OFFERING THE FIRST ESCAPE PODS TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!"  
  
“THE RICHEST WHO PAY HIM OFF THE MOST WILL GO FIRST! HE SAID SO!”  
  
"HE'S SELLING OUR LIVES!"  
  
When the Zion took a stumbling step backward, perspiration dampening his brow, Kim's bad feeling about him turned worse. The crowds rallied around the Zion, nearly causing a riot before Kim unloaded her blaster once toward the ceiling. "Is this true, Zion Utes? Are you selling who gets to escape first?"  
  
The Zion scowled venomously, backing away. "Our world is lost! We caught early images of the devastation. We saw the cities crumbling... the roads caving into the very ground! DEATH HAS CONQUERED THIS WORLD! I... I was just... you could share in the profits, you know," he noted in a snarky tone, hands extended as if he were offering her a gift.     
  
Kimberly wanted to choke the life out of him. "I've seen hundreds of dead bodies on my way here, and my partner is risking his life as we speak. You’re in the middle of a flipping natural disaster and you're playing with peoples lives over money? You're sick!"  
  
"My men could..."  
  
"Your men aren't wearing body armor, and I am. So if you want to turn this into a gun fight I promise it wont last long. And I will personally make sure you will be on the very last escape pod leaving this ship if you don't help me right now." The Zion cowered where he stood, noting his guards fear in tangling with a Ranger. He nodded his acceptance. "Good," she replied. "NOW LISTEN UP EVERYONE. WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND ELDERLY FIRST! LETS GO AND GET OFF THIS SHIP! EVERYONE STICK TOGETHER AND FOLLOW ME!"  
  
  
******  
  
  
Inside his helmet-scanner, Tommy monitored the ever-increasing heat range of the Plasma-core engine cell while aiming his laser cutter at the far wall of the vast engine room. Grimacing with worry, he focused on the task at hand. The thin blue laser beam cut straight through the ultra-thick outer shell of the vessel, though it wasn't easy as the mammoth ship was designed to repel nearly any attack. "Kim, what's your status?"  
  
'I've finished boarding the first forty passengers, prioritizing the injured, elderly, and children. E.T.A  for the rest of the survivors is ten minutes. How about you?'  
  
Nearly finished cutting a ten-foot tall square section of the wall out, Tommy replied, "The one active Plasma-core is fractured and leaking radiation," he explained. "It's overheating and will rupture in less than ten minutes. I have to get it off this ship and as far away from the here as possible."  
  
'And just how are you going to do that without getting yourself killed?' Kim asked with no small amount of annoyance.  
  
"Just get those escape pods to the surface. I've got an idea. I'll be alright." He sensed she wanted to say something more as she paused briefly. "I'll see you on the surface."  
  
'... I'm going to hold you to that. Kim out.'  
  
Having finished cutting through the wall, Tommy used his augmented Ranger strength to mule-kick the gigantic metal slab outward until it finally fell away from the ship. Maneuvering around the dead bodies of the engine room crew members, he quickly swam towards the circular, glowing Plasma-core. Grabbing it by a side-handle, he swam for the opening he just made, clearing it as the core leaked deadly red radiation all around him.  
  
Turning his gaze upward, Tommy watched several escape pods jettison from the Monolith's forward panels. As grateful as he was of the sight, he was essentially carrying a bomb that would still kill them all if he couldn't get it far enough away. Disregarding his own personal safety, Tommy began swimming as hard and fast as he could in the opposite direction, trying to place as much distance as possible between the Plasma-core and the survivors.  
  
This was what it meant to be a Power Ranger. Not the battles or the Zords or cool toys and weapons. It was the absolute sacrifice they would all make to protect and serve the galaxy. Any fear Tommy felt wasn't for himself, but those he was trying to save.  
  
Especially Kimberly. No life was more precious to him than hers.   
  
Pushing himself harder, Tommy moved fast as the Plasma core's radiation leak began drawing the attention of the oversized marine life in the area. As colorful species of fish the size of automobiles surrounded him, suddenly they all swam away... faster than any fish he'd ever seen move before. His neck arched as he watched them blaze away. "Not good."  
  
From around a gigantic coral reef, Tommy heard the horrid wail of something closing in fast. His helmet's internal scanner registered something big coming his way. His eyes widened when he caught sight of a colossal one-eyed sea creature the size of a Zord. It looked like a dark green snake with broad fins, and a mouth of piranha-like razor sharp teeth.   
  
And it looked hungry!  
  
Having come to a full stop, Tommy gulped inside his helmet. He was unsure if he should start firing his blaster right away, or wait and see if the creature moved on. The humongous beast eyed him curiously, seemingly gauging if he was worth the effort. But it seemed entranced by the glowing leakage of the Plasma-core.  
  
In a blinding flash, the creature dove at him!  
  
All at once Tommy reacted, using all his augmented strength to throw the core inside the creature's wide open mouth, and then pulling his blaster. As the Plasma-Core soared inside the creature's mouth, he aimed high, firing rapidly at its one eye. The beast roared in agony, swimming erratically, its teeth trying to chew on the Plasma core as it wasn't sure if it were food or not.  
  
Miraculously, it swam away in a burst of speed, leaving a trail of crimson in its wake.   
  
Exhaling a breath of relief, Tommy spun around to swim away as fast as he could. His piercing gaze ascended to find some thirty escape pods nearly cresting the surface above. Suddenly a powerful explosion plowed into him, sweeping him helplessly into a barrier reef that nearly knocked him unconscious. His helmet scanner began phasing in and out.  
  
With every muscle in his body aching, he fought to reach the surface, chasing the escape pods as he fought off passing out with everything that he had.   
  
Out the corner of his eye he noticed that some ragged debris from the Monolith had struck and damaged one of the escape pod's. It seemed to be drifting rather than rising, and was leaking fuel. With all the strength he had left, Tommy chased after the escape pod.  
  
Upon reaching it he saw through the glass canopy what looked like four young alien children. Beige skin tone, humanoid physical looks, with haunting dark blue eyes. His helmet system was all static, so he couldn't verbally communicate or determine their race.  One of them, a young girl, seemed the most alert. Her eyes frightened, but determined. Their little fists beat at the glass canopy as the escape pod lost power.  
  
The White Ranger's options were few. The escape pod was damaged and no doubt wouldn't make it to the surface. He wasn't strong enough to pull it. No other help was coming. Thankfully, the oxygen masks were still embedded on the dashboard controls. He motioned to them.  
  
The little girl, terrified and shaking, nods. She begins fastening them on the other childrens faces... pausing briefly to inspect something, she glances back at Tommy. Fear and courage were written all over her innocent little face. She then switches the third and fourth masks, helping the last child with his mask before donning her own. With a nod she gives Tommy the go ahead.  
  
Using simple hand motions, he tried to convey through the glass canopy that he was going to open it, and that they all needed to hold onto each other. The four youths seemed to understand and did as they were told.   
  
There was no time to think. Using the butt of his blaster, Tommy pulverized the glass canopy as their escape pod quickly flooded. He shoved away the glass and reached for the small alien children. Tucking two under one arm, the little girl clung around his neck, and the other child under the other arm. He swam as fast as he possibly could, pushing himself past all limits, his entire body exerting powerfully as he raced towards the surface.  
  
They were the longest two minutes of his entire life. He just couldn't swim any faster than he was. He had nothing left in the tank, gasping for breath, his chest heaving. He just kept fighting even as he felt as if he were gonna black out.   
  
Upon finally reaching the surface, sprays of water struck him as rescue shuttles hovered overhead. He raised the children as high as he could. Bright beams of search lights illuminated around him. "HELP!!! I HAVE CHILDREN!!! ONE IS WOUNDED CHILD!! HELP!!!" Tommy screamed at the top of his lungs. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!!"  
  
From her perch atop one of the escape pods, Kim SAW Tommy struggling in the water. Without hesitation she frantically dove back into it, swimming hard towards him. "Shuttle Tiderian, follow me. Emergency medical evac for the White Ranger and survivors. They are in the water. I repeat, they are in the water!."  
  
A small rescue shuttle broke from the group, tracking the Pink Ranger as she swam towards the White Ranger. Reaching them, two belt-secured rescue workers leaped into the ocean, taking two of the children from Tommy. He helped give the little girl around his neck to them, while Kimberly lifted the other child on board the shuttle. Behind blurry vision and in intense pain, Kim had to drag Tommy's barely conscious body on-board. Lying him on his back, her internal helmet scanner registered severe radiation poisoning, a sprained wrist, and four fractured ribs. How he'd survived at all was a miracle.   
  
Unlocking the neck latch, Kim helped pull Tommy's helmet off. Pale and bruised, he was death warmed over, but he was alive. Shivering, but alive. She'd never been so grateful. Tugging him into her arms, she pressed her lips to his forehead, and then rested her head against his, breathing deeply. "You made it," she smiled.  
  
"Barely," he panted as even that hurt. "You get everyone off the ship?"  
  
She nodded, brushing some of his wet hair off the side of his face. "All alive and accounted for."  
  
"How are you doing?"  
  
"Better than you. What happened down there?"  
  
Tommy managed what amounted to a painful chuckle. "Swam with a bomb... almost got ate by alien Moby Dick... lost a fight with a barrier reef that felt like it was made of iron... did some baby-sitting."  
  
"The great and powerful Tommy Oliver," she teased, shaking her head. "Can you ever do anything simple?"  
  
"Not really, no." Tommy coughed hard, and then tried looking over her shoulder. He caught sight of the children, now wrapped in blankets being checked out. Three of them. But there was one he didn't see. "Where... where is about the little girl? Is she alright?"  
  
Kimberly looked to one of the rescue workers. Her heart stopped when he shook his head, and then softly placed a blanket over the girl's small body. Holding up one of the oxygen mask, there was a deep crack on one side of it. The child drowned. "I'm sorry. She didn't make it," Kim gently broke the news, watching Tommy's expression fade into despair, exhaling all the air out of him. "We can't save them all. You know that."  
  
"Yeah..." Tommy bowed his head, so overcome with emotion he was unable to speak. So Kimberly held him tightly, simply sharing the moment. Reminding him that he wasn't alone.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
The End of Chapter 2  
  
Chapter 3: The Rethirrion mission continues as an old evil is revealed.


	3. The Return...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still on Rethirrion, Kim comforts Tommy after a their rescue effort goes horribly wrong. Billy leads a team of Rangers on a dangerous underground mission. Jason and Trini try to work through their personal issues while touring a devastated city. An old enemy bent on vengeance returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: Everything up to and including the end of Dino Thunder. All else is explained and is my AU.
> 
> Disclaimer: Saban owns it all again. If that's a good thing or not remains to be seen.
> 
> Authors Notes: Not every chapter will be as long as this one or the first as I'm using this verse to have fun and touch on a number of different themes. We'll begin a little here adding a focus on other characters even as this remains a Tommy/Kim centric series. Enjoy.
> 
> Authors Notes 2: Be on the lookout for my new Kindle stories under the name "seanbecks" Keep an eye on my profile page for updates and previews.

Above "Veco-9"  An Underground train system  
Monday, February 27, 2007 6:15 PM  
The Yarrel Continent   
Planet "Rethirrion"  
  
  
  
As day faded gently into twilight, Zack peered over the amber-colored horizon at more pure destruction than he had ever seen before. Towering structures, sprawling resort hotels, luxury casinos, hospitals, highways... nothing still stood. He tried to focus on the sound of his own measured breathing as the sheer magnitude of the devastation before him dwarfed his imagination. Miles-wide fires burned everything in the distance, roaring through a once robust seaside city that was now ashes blown to the far winds.   
  
His internal sensors registered a temperature of 108 degrees, with a high level of radiation in the area. The stench of death tinged the hot air itself as the Black Ranger tried to wrap his mind around such annihilation. A God-fearing man, he could only think of the word biblical as he took it all in. The loss of life was nothing-less than catastrophic. With time running out on this world, he held fast to the hope that there were more lives yet to be saved.  
  
After all, that's what it meant to be a Ranger. Hope never died. And they never gave up.  
  
Steering his attention away from smoking ruins of the once great city, Zack approached a crouched Rocky from behind, who stood at the edge of a gigantic cracked sink-hole. One that appeared endless in depth, as if only hell awaited at the bottom. One that they would soon be traveling into. He bent down beside the Red Ranger, eying it closely. Gusting winds howled past them, swirling ash and dirt all around. Visibility would have been impossible without their helmets. "What do you think?"  
  
Shrugging, Rocky picked up, and then tossed a small pebble off the edge and watched it soar into the pure darkness. "You know what they say about the worst case scenario?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well this is it."  
  
With her Purple Ranger helmet in one hand, Katherine tapped her earpiece to insure she had a strong satellite signal. Standing alongside Billy, who was leading this mission, they peered off into the northern sky. "Communications with the Falcon Zord are online. We're ready."       
  
Tapping his earpiece, Billy said, "Kim, can you read me?"  
  
'Loud and clear, Blue. Satellite 7-G and 8-F are broadcasting strongly. But how long do you think they will be viable?'  
  
Going over last second details of the mission via a holographic outline that extended from his chest plate, Billy compiled the information, "By my calculations we have exactly six hours before the satellites are out of range. At that point this mission is a failure, and likely any hope of salvaging the continent before the rescue effort is over. It's now or never."   
  
Behind blustery winds Zack and Rocky walked over to where Billy and Kat stood. The Blue Ranger said, "Upload the train tunnel schematics to our helmet navigators."  
  
'Uploading now.' Kim replied as she beamed the visuals to the ground team.   
  
Billy began detailing their mission. "Hyven Ion Power Station is about three miles due east. We can't approach it from above ground due to the extremely high levels of Ion-radiation leaking on the surface. But the lower levels are automatically ray-shielded, and while the workers likely did not survive, we would be able to for a time. Hopefully long enough to re-engage the cooling systems and buy us a few more hours to evacuate this continent. The underground Veco Train system was used to transport workers to and from the plant on a daily basis. Though collapsed, that tunnel offers us the best solution to reach the plant before the reactors explode.'  
  
"Here and here," Katherine pointed out to the team at the red outlined holographic display that extended from the Blue Ranger chest emblem. "We may encounter heavy debris that will require immediate removal. In addition, there's a S-class train that is unaccounted for in our rescue logs."  
  
Zack inquired, "Any chance for survivors?"  
  
After a solemn pause, Billy shook his head. "Negative. But we'll look just the same."   
  
'The satellites just need a direct line of sight, Billy. The rest is up to you. Kim out.'  
  
Walking to the edge of endless darkness, Billy unloaded the gear from his back-pack. "The train station itself is buried under over three thousand tons of rubble. The highway overpass is completely collapsed as well. Entering here is our only option, but we must take caution. The tunnel burrows further underground as it goes. We're jumping into its deepest section. Thankfully, these... lets just call them extremely elastic energy cables, will get us to the tunnel floor. Any questions?"  
  
"Are you sure we can't just jump in?" Zack inquired.  
  
"Yes," Billy replied. "We don't know what you might land on or hit on the way down. Going the slow route isn't as fast, but its safer."  
  
That didn't exactly ease Katherine's nerves. But nothing about this doomed world did. "If this tunnel caves in on us we'll be buried alive."  
  
"Way to be positive, Kat," Rocky joked with a grin that wasn't nearly as cocky as it sounded behind his helmet.  
  
"Hey, I'll be fine. I'm a cat. I always land on my feet."  
  
"You can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyes in my helmet." Zack unhooked his back-pack off his shoulders. "Time to get this show on the road."  
  
Billy took out his gear. "Prepare your repels. And Rocky, if you got any jokes, now would be a good time to hear one."  
  
"OK, here goes," the current Red Ranger began as he powerfully drove his repel anchor-stake into the dirt, grounding it deep, The others followed suit. "Two campers are hiking in the woods when one is bitten on the rear-end by a rattlesnake. 'I’ll go into town for a doctor,' the other says. He runs ten miles to a small town and finds the town’s only doctor, who is delivering a baby."  
  
Testing her repel anchor-stake, Katherine prepared her long cable, attaching it to the device. "This wont end well," she teased.  
  
"Stop interrupting." Ignoring her amusing middle-finger retort, Rocky made sure his cable wasn't hanging over any sharp edges. He then attached the rope to the shoulder harness he wore over his Ranger armor, clipping the rope into the locking caribiner. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. 'I can’t leave,' the doctor says. ‘But here’s what to do. Take a knife, cut a little X where the bite is, suck out the poison and spit it on the ground.”   
  
Having set up his repel gear, Zack moved to the edge of the dark sink-hole, rope in hand. "Rocky, you're heading in icky territory."  
  
"Will you let me finish?"  
  
A smile he hadn't experienced in a while broke out on Billy's face behind his mask as he joined the others at the sink-hole's edge. Below, darkness and death awaited. He focused his mind, having calibrated the tech in his helmet. "Go on, Rocky."  
  
"OK, alright." Rocky set his back to the sink-hole's edge, standing beside his team as they did the same. "So the guy runs back to his friend, who is in agony. ‘What did the doctor say?” the victim asks. 'He says you’re gonna die.'"  
  
"Oh my God, that sucked," Katherine laughed as she glanced at the Red Ranger.  
  
"That joke reached a new level of suck," Zack chimed in above the strong gusts of wind, snickering.  
  
"Affirmative," Billy chuckled before drawing the team's minds back to the mission. "Guys, make sure your repel devices are firmly attached to your   
harnesses. When we hit the ground make sure your internal scanners are set to broad spectrum. We are walking into the unknown, so be careful. Conditions could change down there incredibly fast. Stay alert."   
  
All four Rangers moved to the sink-hole's edge, cables in hand, backs to the darkness below.  
  
Billy looked to his team, and then nodded. "Three... two... one... Go!"  
  
The Rangers leapt backwards, free-falling into darkness while rappelling downward in long jumps. It was like leaping off the edge of a skyscraper as each moved past obstructions and overhangs as best they could, methodically descending into the quiet below.   
  
One thousand and seven hundred feet straight down to the dusty ruins of a collapsed train tunnel.  
  
"Down!" Zack shouted inside his helmet as his feet hit ground first. His helmet sensors swept the immediate area for any movement. "Clear!" He was soon followed by Rocky, Katherine, and Billy. They quickly unfastened their repel devices.  
  
"Night-vision arrays activate," Billy called out. Black so vast it shrouded everything became a soft emerald glow as their night-vision visors illuminated the tunnel before them up to twenty feet. All else was deathly quiet. "Segment six-feet apart and check the structural soundness of the walls and ceiling. If this whole place comes down..."  
  
"As Han Solo would say," Rocky interjected, "We're gonna become a permanent resident."  
  
"This section of the tunnel ceiling was unaffected by the earthquake. But up ahead is any ones guess," Katherine offered as she fought off a chill not brought on by the temperature, but by the sheer nothingness that surrounded them.  
  
"Guys, things are going to be very uncomfortable from here on out," Billy explained. "Closely monitor your radiation levels as well. They should incrementally rise the closer we get, but if you notice a sharp spike give us a heads up. Our first and only priority is getting that power stations cooling system online."  
  
"Turn the refrigerator back on, got it," Rocky chuckled while maneuvering around a large block of fallen rubble.  
  
"So let me see. Small chance of victory, check. Deadly, timed mission of doom, check. Success or death the only option, check," Zack chimed in. "Sounds like fun."  
  
"Must guys turn everything into some Macho-man, tough guy movie-like dialogue?" Katherine asked with a smile.   
  
"Yes," both Zack and Rocky replied.  
  
Billy could only shake his head, grinning. "Times wasting, guys. Lets get going."  
  
Scores of exotic dead animals that probably fell down into the sink-hole and or sadly wandered there searching for food, littered the initial section of the tunnel covering the silver tracks. The stench of decay accompanied swarms of insects that festered over the carcases. The sight was disgusting enough to turn ones stomach, but had to be ignored by the Rangers as they made their way down the huge dark corridor.  
  
"Two-percent increase in radiation levels," Rocky called out ten minutes later. "Somebody tell me if I start glowing, alright?"  
  
"Hush, Rocky," Katherine giggled as they soon found themselves walking through a foot deep of filthy water, splashing their way down the passage amidst a new swarm of flies and gnats. "Billy, does this tunnel pass under a body of water?"  
  
"Yes. A small river barely two mile long," he replied as he scanned the walls for cracks. He found several small ones, with some bringing a constant stream of water down into the tunnel. But none seemed ready to crack fully enough to endanger them. "It won't pose a threat."  
  
"Fuck!" Zack side-stepped the large body of something that resembled a horse floating down the waters. The decaying body was grotesque to look at, with its bones and flesh crushed together. His heart raced powerfully. "Great. Just great. So if the radiation doesn't kill us, maybe we'll drown down here if there's a aftershock."  
  
"We'll be pass the area where the river sits shortly," Billy noted. "And our suits are water-proof, and fitted with nearly nine hours of air supply. Should the walls cave in and flood the tunnel we have a high-probability of survival even if we had to swim underwater back to the surface."  
  
"That's the sexiest thing you've ever said, Billy."  
  
"Thanks, Rocky. I think..."  
  
The team blazed down the dark tunnel, stopping only when the radar systems embedded in their helmets alerted them to a large blockade up ahead before they actually saw it.  
  
Flipped completely upside down, the narrow front end of the black bullet-shaped train was crushed by huge jagged slabs of ceiling debris. Tons worth. The shattered glass shell-canopy was smashed so level there was no hope for the crew, with the nose of the vehicle completely torn asunder.   
  
"We have to remove this section at once. The clock is ticking," Billy called out.  
  
"I'm on it." Removing a hockey-puck sized device with red lights surrounding its outside, Zack threw it at the ceiling above the train, and then threw another one on top of the train cabin debris. The ceiling device embedded, and then began spinning so fast it became a blur of dust as it surged upwards until it burst through the ceiling all the way up to the surface. Dirt and rocks rained back inside the tunnel, but a clear line of sight was set. "Skies above."  
  
Katherine calculated the satellite position, and then quickly scanned the entire front end of the train and all the debris crumbled on top of it. "Billy, we're ready."  
  
"Commencing teleportation now." Blue light flickered over the entire wreckage as Billy looked on, and then ten seconds later disappeared in a burst of light. Left behind were nine detached train-cars still on the silver rails. But the path ahead was open. "Guys, prepare yourselves. This was the morning train the day of the catastrophe. Scan for any life signs, but..."  
  
"Hear you loud and clear, Billy." Katherine slowly walked alongside the track, aiming her hand-held data pad in both hands. The side cars weren't completely crushed like the forward car. but were all eerily quiet and in terrible condition. Shards of broken glass, shattered panels, metallic rips along the side, and a dangerous fuel leak only made matters worse.   
   
"Billy," Rocky called out while noting his internal helmet monitor. "Zion gas elevations have risen twenty percent in the last ten minutes. If these people didn't die from the crash, they died from choking to death."  
  
"Two minute sweep, guys. Everyone keep close watch on your internal systems. There's just not much we can do for them at this point."  
  
With heavy hearts, the Rangers climbed and crawled into the wreckage of the train cars. One by one they quickly scanned for any life signs, identifying alien species via skull structure analysis while taking quick helmet-cam photos of any ID's worn on the bodies of the victims.   
  
One car featured a pile of bodies that trampled each other in a desperate attempt to escape. Blood colored every square inch of it. Another fractured cabin was nothing but limbs torn asunder as a gigantic sharp rock crushed part of the train-car.  
  
The dead faces were what they would never forget. Frozen in fear, facing hopelessness, death having visited them in the most horrific ways possible. Bodies hung lifelessly from windows they'd punched through trying to escape. Doors hung off hinges with torn fingernails and scratches adorning the metal. The Rangers discovered a total of eleven different species of aliens, with a body count of two hundred and sixteen.  
  
Billy descended from the last train car, and then turned to face his team. "I found seven."  
  
"Five," Katherine replied quietly as she hopped from the car back to the ground.  
  
"Ten," Zack followed her.  
  
"Six," Rocky said at last, noting the disgusting state of his boots.  
  
Billy gave a nod, retrieving the ID information from the other Rangers. At least they identified twenty-eight individuals. Maybe that would offer some comfort to their families, provided any of them were still alive. They just didn't have time to retrieve the bodies. "We're a mile from the power station, but the Zion gas levels are gradually rising. That was a unforeseen occurrence." The worry in his voice wasn't hidden in the least. "Rocky and me can withstand up to ninety percent, but the tech-suits you guys are wearing weren’t designed for anything past sixty-five. Couple that with the radiation levels rising, and the fact that so much as a single spark will detonate this entire tunnel, I've come to the conclusion that..."  
  
"We're fucked?" Rocky asked in a joking manner.  
  
"Though a crude way for stating the obvious, yes," Billy replied. "Our enemy here is time and things are worse than we thought. Let's get going now. Sprint the rest of the way, but if the radiation or Zion gas levels reach critical, Kat and Zack, you're gonna have to back-track. Otherwise you will die down here."  
  
A ominous pause fell over the group before Katherine spoke. She was all business. "Lets get on with it then."  
  
Without another word said they began racing the rest of the way, each Ranger lost in his and her own thoughts as the dire quiet surrounded them as surely as death.  
  
Zack brushed aside a note of claustrophobic fear, both wanting to finish this mission and help as many people as possible. While also, and a bit guiltily, wanting to get the hell off this world as fast as possible. There was only so much death he could take. So much misery he could witness before he cracked. He knew the Rangers couldn’t save this world.   
  
Only what was left of it.   
  
Katherine recalled as they traversed the pitch black tunnel the long discussion she had with Zordon when he prepared her for becoming a Ranger. But no matter the Zords they flew or the worlds they visited, theirs wasn't a life of adventure and excitement. It was a life of selflessness and sacrifice. They were keepers of the peace, not soldiers. This mission tested her resolve that she had what it took to be a Ranger more than any other. This was the side of their job that children didn't pretend to be when they played in their backyards after watching the news reports of their latest exploits.   
  
This mission was the purest essence of what it meant to be a Ranger. To preserve and protect life no matter the cost.  
  
Rocky wished he could learn of Aisha's condition. His fiancee was one tough cookie, but he always preferred to have her back during a mission. Whatever happened in New Phoren left her with a bad concussion and some bumps and bruises. She was alive and that was enough, for now.   
  
He tried, as always, to keep his teammates thoughts light no matter the darkness surrounding whatever mission they faced. It was never because he lacked a more serious side. It was because he was the light to theirs, and he understood how best to break their tension and help them refocus. Even if it was with a dumb joke or bad pun. But here and now, he only wanted to know how Aisha was doing.   
  
As for Billy, he quietly grasped with internal feelings of anxiety and even self-doubt. Being in the "Zordon" role fit him far more than the "boots on the ground" version of leadership Jason and Tommy preferred. But he had to do this. Not only for himself, but for how it looked to the Galactic Ranger Alliance leadership off-world. And to the government of Earth who knew he had no military background to speak of. His days as a Ranger were looked upon as him being the "Tech guy," and not respected the way Tommy and Jason were when they met with government officials.   
  
He secretly detested that.  
  
He wanted... no deserved... no, he demanded! their respect. And even as he had earned that, he knew it didn't matter. Because things moved by his design whether they liked it or not.  
  
He suddenly felt cold and alone, but shoved those thoughts aside to refocus.  
  
Twenty minutes passed as the dire tension grew so thick, and then Katherine and Zack came to a sudden halt. Rocky and Billy stopped up ahead only after they did.  
  
"Bro, the radiation levels are..." Zack swallowed deeply, nearly stumbling as she struggled to gain his bearings. His voice trembled mightily. "They're spiking fast. They're too high. We... we gotta go back."      
   
Both Rocky and Billy knew Zack would never back down from any mission unless he was truly certain there was little hope. Billy approached Katherine, taking hold of her elbow when she appeared groggy on her feet. "How are you doing?"  
  
"As bad as Zack, I’m afraid," she coughed hard, her breathing labored. "We're at maximum radiation levels now. If we go any further the suits might rupture."  
  
"And that would be instant death for both of you," Rocky concluded with his arms crossed his chest. "Billy, old friend. Looks like me and you ending this date together. But just because I bought the lobster and steak doesn't mean you're getting any."  
  
"Rocky, you're delightfully disgusting sometimes," Kat laughed while standing beside Zack as they supported each other.  
  
"Guys, take care and stay safe. Kat and I gotta get out of here. We're gonna try to teleport back at the river section," Zack coughed hard. "Rocko, Ill check on Sha for you. No worries. We gotta go now. Good luck."  
  
"You too, now go!" Billy turned to Rocky as their two friends quickly departed into the darkness. "The power station should be a quarter of a mile from here. We get inside, and then need to reach the cooling system controls in the main control center."  
  
"Then let's go before we start glowing."  
  
"You're really afraid of glowing, aren't you?"  
  
"An old childhood fear," Rocky smirked.  
  
Tracing the ground-mounted train rails, the Rangers trudged through piles of wet rubble, slabs of jagged debris, and waist-deep water. Moving as fast as they possibly could down the deep, underground tunnel.   
   
"Scanning a structure up ahead," Billy said as they quickly reached a smooth black wall that ran from floor to ceiling. "This is one of the stations emergency protocols. This security wall was meant to protect against a attack or unexpected explosion."  
  
"Can we open it from the outside?"  
  
"That should not be a problem." Moving to the right side of the wall, Billy located a still-lit panel. He retrieved a magnetic security card given to him by Rethirrion officials and swiped it in the card slot.  
  
"Open sesame," Rocky noted as the huge door rose up into the ceiling, revealing a blinking, red-tinged stairwell. Emergency lights criss-crossed the walls and ceiling as alarms blared loudly. "I think the night-vision needs to go off here."  
  
"Agreed," Billy replied. "Radiation levels are critical. Pull up the schematics for the power station."  
  
"Got'em."  
  
Billy looked over a lined-overlay inside his helmet visor. "Let's go. This stairwell leads to a elevator that can take us three floors up to the control station. With any luck its still operational." He then pointed out an alternate route. "If not we will take this emergency escape staircase here."  
  
"Just to play Devils Advocate, what if both are not available?" Billy ignored the question, causing Rocky to gulp. "They'll be a lot of slow singing and flower bringing, I guess."  
  
"Affirmative."  
  
The Rangers ran across the bridge towards what was left of a security checkpoint desk, the guards bodies buried below rubble. They rounded a corner and reached the main elevator in the lobby, only to find it half open and filled with dead bodies. Arms and legs literally stuck out of the opening, bloodied and limp.  
  
"OK, Plan B then," Rocky sounded as he followed Billy down another long corridor, dodging more of the dead workers and staff as the emergency exit staircase was up ahead. They hit the stairs two at a time, moving up until they reached the top floor where the control station was.  
  
"The power station is up ahead!" Billy shouted above the still blaring alarms as they entered a large circular room with several computer stations and an entire wall of holographic monitoring screens.   
  
"Everything's in the red. This is most troublesome." Billy shoved a tri-pod chair aside in front of the main station and went to work, typing furiously to calculate where things stood. Never mind the dead bodies all around him. "Five of the nine Ion reactor cores are overheating and leaking massive amounts of radiation. The coolant temperature is 347 degrees, and the residual heat removal system is down. We have to get that system back online."  
  
"OK, how?"  
  
"I need you to go to the cooling system chamber and do exactly what I tell you," Billy explained. "I have to remain here to monitor and calibrate the controls."  
  
Rocky quickly pulled up the route to get to the cooling chamber in his internal helmet monitor. "I'm on my way."  
  
The Red Ranger sprinted past the initial staircase until he reached another, and instead of taking it, leapt down the middle, nine flights until he hit the floor below. Flashlight beams danced off the walls as he pushed past the bone-weary exhaustion of the mission.  
  
Rocky reached the chamber housing the 'Emergency Core Cooling System', pushing inside to face an entire room of holographic command consoles. So many, and far beyond what he knew to work with. "Billy, I'm here. And I might be way outta my league."  
  
"Take a deep breath and look to your left. You'll see the primary and back-up cooling systems tinged in a green color. The primary should be reading a catastrophic error. Look to the back-up. What do you see?"  
  
Rocky quickly searched, and then found what Billy described. His internal visor translated the keys into English, or its closest translation. "The back-up reads its online. It looks like one of the worker's tried to engage it manually, but it didn't kick in. There seems to be an obstruction blocking a main cooling valve." The Red Ranger blinked when he actually heard Billy swear under his breath. "Did you just curse?"  
  
"Irrelevant," Billy sighed. "Okay, that cooling valve is fifty-feet from your location. Get there and see what you can do. I was able to shut down half the reactors, but the other half are still dangerously unstable."  
  
"I'm on it!"  
  
Rocky sprinted from the chamber down the hall towards the sprawling reactor core's cooling valves. Six gigantic cooling ports. One was crushed entirely, while the other five just weren’t operating. He visually trailed them to a blinking wall-panel. Sparks popped from the keyboard pad. "Billy, patch into my helmet and take a look at this. I think this panels malfunction is why the emergency cooling systems aren't working." A brief pause as Rocky knew Billy was taking in the whole picture, as usual.  
  
"That red wire is emitting electricity that's canceling out the others. We need to patch it as soon as possible it in the next thirty... No pressure though."  
  
"SHIT!" Rocky thought fast, then looked up and saw the words 'RESTROOM' down the hall. He raced there, not caring it was the womens bathroom at all. Pushing through two sets of doors, he vaguely recalled that the restrooms were radiation proof and a secondary emergency area. The Red Ranger ripped off his helmet, took his gum out of his mouth, and then shoved his helmet back on.  
  
Racing back down the hall, Rocky pressed the gum to the red wire, watched as the sparks stopped, and then heard a loud whooshing noise as the cooling ports came to life.  
  
"Billy, I think I got it. And with four seconds to spare. Bruce Willis ain’t got nothing on me."  
  
"I said thirty minutes, Rocky, not thirty seconds."  
  
"Oh... well... hell, my version sounds cooler with thirty seconds."  
  
Billy shook his head, laughing. "While this goes against my life-long stance on grammatical correctness, you da man, Rocky."  
  
  
  
******  
  
Five hours Later  
   
******  
  
  
The ruins of Vamino Prime City  
Monday, February 27, 11:15 PM  
Night-time on "Rethirrion"  
  
  
Moon-lit ash rained down softly from the heavens, covering the ravaged terrain below.  
  
Amidst howling winds gusting hard, the Golden Eagle and Canary Zords tore across the night skies. Their cargo, heavily-augmented scanning equipment capable of reading something as small as a single heartbeat through tons of rubble and nearby radiation leaks. With the thirty Vision-class heavy-capacity transport starships E.T.A in two hours, as well as short-range teleportation bursts enabled, Jason and Trini volunteered for this last minute fly-over of the second largest city on the planet in hopes of finding any survivors before the Galactic Alliance gave up all hope on this forsaken world.  
  
A longshot at best. But a worthwhile one.  
  
Peering through the clear canopy of the Eagle Zord, Jason could almost hear the faint echos of the dead as nothing was untouched by this   
merciless apocalypse. He recalled a history class in his senior year of high school where they watched footage from Hiroshima post the Atom Bomb. The sheer unimaginable ruination was so terrible it was hard to believe it was even real. And now as he witnessed first-hand as dozens of blustering fires raged out of control from every direction, he could scarcely believe what he was seeing. What was once a bustling, vibrant megalopolis with a population well over twenty million was now a devastated wasteland where dark ash covered every surface for miles without end. "Let's fly lower just in case any survivors marked rooftops of buildings that didn't collapse. I don't trust our scanners as much as Billy does."  
  
"Of course Billy tested and calibrated them himself."  
  
"I trust his genius without question, but not more than my own two eyes. When technology says there's likely no survivors I want to believe in something   
more. If we could save even one life then this long trip would be worth it."  
  
Ever warmed by his good heart, Trini agreed in silence, which in actuality made up the bulk of their conversations in recent weeks. Ever since that scandalous night at his apartment when they almost crossed a line they could never come back from. One that, in that moment, she wanted more than anything to open up to him. To truly let go and feel normal again, something she hadn't since the horror she experienced in Rome just one year ago. But she was forever changed now. Scarred. Broken in some way she was still coming to grips with. And so she fled his apartment into the night without so much as a word said, cutting off all contact with him until just two short days ago. "We should head three miles east toward Syer Dome."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Records show that the night the asteroid hit there was a huge concert taking place there. And while I'm not expecting to find..." she exhaled deeply into her comm-link, searching for the optimism of her youth. "The stadium can hold a capacity of seventy-nine thousand. It would have been the most heavily populated venue in the city that night. Its a long shot, but the underground garages and tunnel system beneath the dome could possibly have survived."  
  
"Good call. Setting a course for Syer Dome now." Veering eastward, Jason ignited his Zord's ion-thrusters, enjoying the visceral rumble of velocity. Before him countless towering skyscraper hotels that once kissed the clouds were now the vile evidence of the colossal scope of the devastation. Banking steeply, he all but willed his radar to give off a sharp beep that it found something. Anything. But the earthquake that hit this city would have registered a 17.0 on the Richter scale on Earth. A cataclysmic event to be certain. "How long until extraction?"  
  
"One hour."  
  
That was all the time had left before the last of the survivors were transported off-world and Rethirrion was no more. Jason said a silent prayer for the dead, knowing that they had done the best that they could do. While keeping his eyes open for anything resembling an S.O.S, the Gold Ranger turned his attention towards a more personal nature. One that he'd held his tongue on for long enough. "So are we ever going to talk about what happened or am I just supposed to pretend it never did?"  
  
There was less anger in his tone than hurt, causing Trini to cringe inwardly as she flew just off his wing. He was a good, proud man. But like Tommy, he saw things in a very black and white sort of way. And these days shades of gray were all around her. "I... It was a mistake to kiss you."  
  
Jason expected as much. "Tell me why?"  
  
She could never tell him. Never reveal her shame or her rage. The words choked in her throat. Died along with that piece of her that she could never get back. And yet, a small voice in the back of her mind whispered that Jason would never, could never see her as less than or weak. Unfortunately, her actions afterward were... darker than anything she'd ever done before. "Its complicated."  
  
"We're adults, so please explain it," Jason replied while maintaining an even tone. Anger and venom would not make her want to open up to him. Something was very wrong with her, and he intended to get to the bottom of it. "We've been spending a lot of time together in the past five months and it felt like we were growing closer." He sighed, "Look, I know we've been friends for years and flipping that switch to something else isn't easy. Its probably kinda weird. But when we're together its just... its different now. And that night when we were sitting on my couch talking about life, and you kissed me. You made the first move and then when I kissed you back you ran out of there and didn't return my messages for weeks. I don't understand that. Its not the way you've ever acted before."  
  
A shiver swept over her. "... people change, Jason."  
  
"Not their character, Trini."  
  
She absolutely hated the cold fear that gripped her heart like a vice. Kissing him triggered her as it was the first time since Rome she'd felt a connection with another person. Had even allowed the concept. The emotion of it was overwhelming. Running away like a child was far from her shining moment. Her heart racing, she offered, "I'm sorry, alright. I am very sorry."  
  
Jason knew Trini better than anyone not named Kimberly Ann Hart. When she returned from overseas a year ago she had changed. Was a bit quieter, and dangerously clever. She'd taken to their return to being Rangers with a vigor that matched his own. But there was a softness, and a gentle nature she always carried within that had taken a backseat to a darker new reality. Sarcasm replaced her gentle teasing nature. As courageous and smart as ever, but far more world weary than he had ever seen her before. But she was right, people do change and grow. Experiences, both public and private, reshape you all the time. Still, there was a nagging ache in the back of his mind that she'd faced something she had no intention of sharing with him. And that hurt a great deal. "Is there someone else?"  
  
"Yes."   
  
The Gold Ranger didn't buy that for a second. "Can I ask who?"  
  
"It's none of your business," erupted from her lips.  
  
"You kissed me and then ran out of my apartment and ignored me for weeks. If for the sake of our friendship alone, I'm owed the truth."  
  
Gritting her teeth, Trini wished she was anywhere but here. Doing anything but facing the man she's grown to care for so deeply outside of friendship. A man who could make her laugh at action movies, and infuriate her with his cheating when they played Poker, and then shoot her a look that made her thighs clench together. In a moment of weakness she indulged the intense urge to kiss him because she had wanted to since forever. But once his lips met hers and the heat grew exponentially, so did her fear. Cold, blinding, crippling ear. What if he ever found out... What if he ever learned what she did... It was as if the very air was being strangled from her lungs. She ran like a coward and hated herself for days. "Why are you doing this?"  
  
"Because I'm falling in love with you, and you are worth fighting for. But I deserve to know what happened and why. And if you don't feel the same way then you need to say so. All I'm asking for is the truth, whatever that is." Silence on the other end. Jason knew he was being pushy, but a closed mouth doesn't get fed in this world or any other. He lived his life facing things head on, damn the consequences. "There isn't anyone else."  
  
Stated, not asked. She shook her head, sadly evading the claim. Even as her heart wanted his declaration of love more than anything she'd ever wanted   
before. She felt sick with shame. "I can't do this, Jason. I'm... I'm different and..."  
  
"Do you need time?"  
  
"I need... wait, hold on, you reading this?"  
  
The holographic outline shown inside the curved glass canopy of his Zord registered a sharp red beep. A beacon lock. "That's a distress signal. Seven miles North-East. Maximum thrusters now!"  
  
All personal issues aside, the Zords blazed over the collapsed rooftops, gusting swirls of debris as they intensified their scans.  
  
"Adam, come in?" Jason called out.  
  
'I read you, Jase.'  
  
"Trini and I are tracking a distress signal. On-board navigation says it towering structure. Sending you the coordinates now. We need schematics and a teleportation array set on stand-by."  
  
Typing furiously at his console, Adam found the information. 'Quinn Sectorals. It's the Earth equivalent of a bank. Its vaults are ray-shield. I'm sending schematics to you both now.'   
  
"Copy. Stand by. Trini?"  
  
Calibrating her signal strength, Trini noted, "The signal is getting stronger. We're close." Gunning the Canary Zord's engines at maximum thrust, she eased off as they approached the mammoth twenty-story building, half destroyed by another building that collapsed onto its side. One that was on fire as thick, dark smoke billowed skyward. "My scanners are telling me there are three main vaults, all below ground. If anyone is inside they will need immediate medical attention." Then she recalled. "Dammit, we can't teleport inside something that's ray-shielded."   
  
Jason switched gears. "Adam, we're scanning over the building now. Lock on everything above the vaults and teleport it away."   
  
'Gotcha. Will do.'  
  
Jason and Trini hovered their Zords over the massive slabs of debris, and watched as a flash or red removed tons of it, revealing three 20-foot wide silver vaults.  
  
"Trini?"  
  
"The one on the left," she calculated, double checking the signal strength. "That's the one the distress beacon is coming from. Nothing from the other two."  
  
Locking his Zord's blasters on their target, Jason took careful aim. "Lets blast those doors off. Laser fire set to seven. Aim for the twin latches on the right side. FIRE!!"  
  
The Eagle and Canary Zords rained thunderous laser-fire down on the vault door latches. Frantic flashing sparks exploded everywhere until at last the thick latches buckled and fell off to the side, red-hot and simmering. The vault doors were finally open...  
  
Inside were nothing but dead bodies. Thirty-nine to be exact, all huddled against one another. Aliens of various sizes and colors were lying against the back wall. They likely locked themselves inside the vault in hopes of awaiting a rescue that didn't come fast enough. Suffocation was the likely murderer.  
  
Shutting her eyes, Trini gasped, the euphoria of their discovery as dead now as the victims of this terrible tragedy. "There were to many people piled in there. The emergency life support systems ran out of power or were damaged."  
  
As Jason scanned for heat signatures and vital signs on the other two vaults, sadly, nothing was alive down there. He smashed his fist over his console in anger, the pain flaring in his knuckles. Alas, time had run out and the extraction was about to begin. There was nothing more that they could   
do here. "Dammit," he swore softly, slumping back in his pilot's chair.  
  
The old Trini knew how to comfort and find the bright side of situation. She often found the reason in the why. Could find hope in anything. But that woman was no more, buried beneath the rubble of her own personal tragedy. The woman she was today, and she was not proud of this, simply had lost   
her way.   
  
They were quiet for a short time before the Yellow Ranger solemnly declared, "I'm heading back to home base. There's nothing more we can do."  
  
Clutching the small gold cross he wore around his neck, Jason Watched the Canary Zord swivel sharply, and then ascend in a burst of velocity as blue-white thrusters blazed into the night sky. "There may not be any hope for this world, but I'm not giving up on us, Trini. Not by a long shot."  
  
Jason knew she heard what he said over the comm-link. Her lack of a reply wasn't surprising. Igniting his own thrusters, the Golden Eagle Zord soared into the heavens.   
  
  
  
******  
  
Five Hours Later  
  
******  
  
  
"The Reliant"  
Vision-class Heavy Capacity Transport Starship   
Currently housing thirty-five thousand survivors from the planet Rethirrion  
Tuesday, February 28, 2007 3:30 AM  
En route to a short-term settlement on the planet Phaedos  
  
  
  
"'Syfer' Milians offers his sincerest regards for you VALUED assistance. The added security provided by the mere presence of such acclaimed Rangers offer a sense of calming peace to the survivors of the Rethirrion tragedy. And with reports of various space-pirate factions looting their world of anything left of value, as well as slavers threatening other transport vessels, we are in your debt."  
  
"The cloaking device is functioning as expected and we will rendezvous with a substantial Galactic Alliance escort-squadron in twenty-four hours." Kimberly took the covered black tray from the silver humanoid-droid, offering a polite nod. "Tell the 'Syfer' we are honored to escort his starship, and that he has nothing to fear. Please thank him on our behalf for his hospitality. Good journey."  
  
"Good journey," the droid acknowledged the universal goodbye, and then took its leave down the long corridor.  
  
When the automated sliding door shut with an audible electronic chime, the small wall-mounted display flashed green, signaling that the door was   
locked. Carrying a tray with dinner for two, Kim maneuvered barefoot through the small cabin to a tri-legged wooden table near the foot of the bed, where she sat it down. Tommy hadn't wanted the lights on ever since they arrived, so they were bathed in the shadows of the starboard blue-green glow from outside the massive ship.   
  
"Smells good at least," she noted while uncovering the top as a faint gust of steam lifted about. The Reliant's cuisine replicators were capable of duplicating food from over two hundred worlds. Two juicy New York Strip steaks, mashed potatoes and gravy with vegetables had never looked so good as she   
was starving. Looking to her boyfriend, she asked, "Are you hungry?"  
  
Brooding shirtless not far from her, Tommy quietly peered out into the endless cosmos through the broad ceiling-high Vibra-glass hub. The vast majesty of deep space was nearly hypnotizing in its infinite mystery. Alas, the answers he sought tonight couldn't be found in the stars. The slightest shake of his head was all the reply he offered in reply.  
  
Frowning slightly, Kim sighed as she gave him his space, covering the food while watching him closely. Thankfully the serving droid that delivered dinner to their private quarters couldn't have cared less that she was only wearing a mans Emerald-green pajama top. Hung low enough for sinful intent, but a bit more provocative than what would have been appropriate had their server been human. Considering how Tommy couldn't get enough of the sight of her whenever she wore it, she purposely packed only his overnight wear as she had hoped that post the mission they would indulge in what she coined 'The Universal Club'.  
  
If the Mile High Club was love making on a plane, this was something altogether more spectacular.  
  
Sadly though, all seductive plans ended hours ago when Tommy cradled a dead little girl in his arms while her distraught younger siblings looked on in mute horror. Kimberly had comforted him as best she could, ever mindful of the internal guilt he battled over past transgressions as the Green Ranger and every life he couldn't save over the years.   
  
Today he had been the hero she always knew he was born to be. He saved three children that would have otherwise died in a watery grave. Lives that the Galactic Alliance would not have spared a rescue effort on as the chaos worldwide was vastly out of anyone’s control.  
  
So Kimberly watched over him closely, protective as ever of his precious heart. She wasn't surprised when he volunteered to escort the transport ship the surviving children were on to the first relocation moon the Galactic Alliance was setting up. The sense of responsibility he felt coupled with the need to do something useful was simply part of his D.N.A.   
  
Just one of the many things she adored about him. And there were so many.  
  
Intensifying her scrutiny, Kim recognized the stress-etched small lines at the corners of his eyes. The hard set of his jaw. The grief behind the stoic expression he wore. She could almost feel his gnawing regret that he couldn't save the child's life even as the clues clearly mark that the little girl knew what she was doing.   
  
Approaching him slowly in the darkness, Kimberly pressed warmly against him from behind, wrapping her arms around around his waist. She rested her head over his right shoulder as she closed her eyes. She held his demons at bay as evidenced by the way he relaxed against her, resting his arms over hers. Having showered a short time ago, the fresh scent of his skin was as soothing as its warmth over her cheek. Their window reflection revealed the quiet intimacy they enjoyed as she tried to reach him, pressing a soft kiss to his back. "Talk to me."  
  
Tommy swallowed hard, hating the emptiness he felt inside. "What is there to say?"  
  
"Today was traumatic and you need to talk it out. It's what we do. It's how we cope." He slowly shifted from her warm embrace, the message that he didn't want to talk was as clear as day that he needed too even more than she thought. Her loving, patient gaze followed after him. "You did your job today."  
  
His nose wrinkled at the memory. "Will her siblings see it that way when they bury her?" Wincing sadly out of her line of sight, Tommy struggled with the blood on his hands. The grief grew tight in his chest, forcing the air in and out of his lungs. He kept replaying what happened over and over in   
his head. Swimming towards the damaged escape pod... the brave little girl who prepared her younger siblings... her sweet little innocent face. His voice cracked ever so. "I should have checked. I should have done more."  
  
While listening intently, Kim rose to his defense. "You didn't have time. The escape pod was damaged beyond repair and you couldn't possibly tow it to the surface. She had already made the decision of what she was going to do after you communicated with her. When you told me you saw her look at the original oxygen mask she was going to use, and then one for her brother, when she switched them she obviously made the choice to save him. She did what any big sister is supposed to do. She sacrificed herself to save her family."  
  
"She was a fucking child, Kim!" Tommy roared angrily, swearing out of character as his eyes blazed. So furious with himself he was shaking. His voice joined along. "I'm the trained adult here. I should have... I just acted on instinct. I didn't pay close enough attention."  
  
She met his grief with calm resolve. "Tommy, there is nothing fair about what happened today. Nothing ever is where a dead child is concerned. But you did your best given the options at that time. Their escape pod was damaged and would have killed them all. You had to crack the canopy and swim them to the surface. You didn't have time to check their masks underwater. The little ones wouldn't have been able to hold their breaths for very long."  
  
"DAMMIT!" his fist bashed into the hard glass with an audible thud, and then he backed away in measured steps, ignoring the pain in his knuckles. He combed his fingers through his short dark hair as frustration swept over him. There was no villain to focus on, hunt down, or kill. No bad guy to point the finger at. This was far from the first time a Ranger mission ended with casualties. But this time it involved a child, and for some reason it felt so very personal to him. "Their faces, Kim... her siblings faces... they'd already lost their parents, there whole world, and now this," and then bowed his head, breathing heavily, his face a mask of anguish. "It's not fair.  
  
"Life rarely is."  
  
The edge in his tone was sharp, his gaze narrowed at her. "I don't want any bullshit wisdom tonight, Kim."  
  
"Swearing doesn't get your point across anymore than it'll lessen your hurt." She watched him brush past her to the side of the bed, where he sat down, half bent over. He was as heartbroken as she had ever seen him before. Walking over to him, her soft hands framed his face as she forced him to look into her   
eyes. "James and Carolyn did an amazing job with you. And we will make sure Galactic Alliance relocation services finds a special family for those children. I promise you that."  
  
Of course she knew his issues with being adopted tied into this as well. Those children had already lost their parents earlier in the day, and now their older sister. They were all alone like he was once upon a time. "What can we do?"  
  
"Dulcea is working with the settlement committee. We have direct contact with her. We can make sure those kids are looked after, and even check up on them if you want. They will be taken care of. Their sister sacrificed her life for them, and we will honor that. But understand this, Tommy. They are alive because of you," she implored him to understand without fail, determination lacing her tone. "That little girl was able to make her sacrifice because of you. It's not a happy ending, but it is a new beginning. And there's victory in that, even if its not a perfect one."  
  
Ever his savior, Tommy slipped his hands around hers and drew her over his lap, curling his arms around her, snuggling her against his chest. Its been barely two months since they got back together and as scary as the notion was in his head, the woman he held so closely was his whole world. Kim meant the world to him, and whenever he felt lost, she was his true North home. As he pressed his face to her neck, her soft skin smelled of roses. He could never recall the name of her perfume, but he loved it so. The faintest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. His voice carried just above a whisper. "I love you."  
  
"Like you had any other choice," she teased lovingly, her smile so bright. "And I love you too."  
  
"What would I do without you?"  
  
Brushing a warm kiss over his temple, she whispered into his ear, "You'll never have to find out."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Promise." Cupping her cheek, Tommy drew her down to him, and then captured her beautiful mouth with a soulfully erotic kiss. One luscious taste of her ignited his desire like wildfire as she softly suckled on the end of his tongue. His arm tightened around her slender waist, needing to feel her body flush against his own. His cock grew thick beneath her as passion ferociously swept over them.   
  
Gasping as they finally broke for oxygen, Kimberly rested her forehead against his, swallowing hard in the back of her throat at the sheer intensity of what they shared. This man awakened such raw lust in her, so much so that she trembled lightly when his fingers began nipping the buttons on her top. The hard heat throbbing against her was an intoxicating allure as the corner of her mouth lifted into a sinfully sexy grin. "Better?"  
  
Devouring her darkly erotic gaze, Tommy gave a small nod. "Thanks to you, Beautiful."  
  
What he said was priceless to her heart, being able to ease his troubled soul when nothing else could. "You're welcome." She's been in love before, deeply more than once. But never as profoundly as she loved him now. It terrified her that she could lose him as much as it inspired her to battle her own inner demons to ensure that never happened. With this relationship she intended to not be her own worse enemy.   
  
When she broke their quiet her tone carried only a hint of playfulness, "Are you hungry now?"  
  
"Hungry for you," he half-growled, now caressing the baby-soft skin of her bare thigh as his touch ascended until her center clenched hotly as he edged ever closer. The feminine heat of her drew him like a moth to a flame when he firmly cupped her mound, tracing the juicy arousal he felt, drinking in the lustful moan that escaped her lips and the shiver that coursed through her. Gorgeous brown eyes fluttered shut when he French-kissed the side of her neck. "I love you so much."   
  
The sheer intensity of his passion melted all over her, rousing flames of lust that left her rocking softly over him. They needed to bury all the hurt and pain of the day in their love.   
  
Slipping out of his warm embrace, Kim stood between his spread legs, and then gave his chest a little shove. Wicked mischief best described her smirk as he fell back over the bed. He looked so damn sexy she nibbled her bottom lip to maintain her focus. "Let me take care of you."   
  
There was no part of his heart she didn't fill completely. "I'm yours."  
  
"I know." Her fingers carelessly danced down his hard chest, crossing past those chiseled abs of his until her palm grazed over his hard erection. The sharp gasp that escaped him when her small fist wrapped around it, stroking lightly, was music to her ears. Having captured his undivided attention, her hand dove inside his pants to grasp that hard length of him. Twitching against her palm, so soft and yet hard at the same time, he jerked the moment she squeezed him tight. "So do you want my romantic train of thought or what I'm truly thinking about right now?"  
  
Tommy's voice hitched as she caressed his cock so damn good he was arching into her grasp. "I want... I want whatever you want."    
  
"But what if I just want to suck on this for a little while?" her tone as sinfully innocent as a forbidden secret. The way his eyes widened at her daring declaration was evidence that she struck a nerve. "What would you say to that?"  
  
She never actually gave him time to answer as she tore the pajama pants down off his hips, past his feet and then tossed it aside. Settling half over his lower body, she took hold of him once more, stroking lightly as his eyes rolled back. "Just lie back and enjoy this, baby."  
  
Tommy's senses provided what his eyes couldn't as the warmth of her breath fanned hotly over his throbbing cock. His thighs trembled as she caressed him, and then a lazy swipe of her tongue over the head sent shivers up and down his spine. He heard a gentle little chuckle and was lost once more when the juicy flat of her tongue began lapping from the base of his cock all the way up to the head, and then slowly back down again, teasing such pleasure. Over and over again her tongue bathed the hard column of flesh as his hips tensed powerfully.  
  
With her mouth hovering above his cock, she promised, "If you liked that, you're gonna love this," and then softly parted her lips around the head, tongue swirling as she closed fully around him, drawing him deep inside the moist-heat of her mouth. Trickling warm saliva down his cock, she reveled in the masculine taste of him as she began sucking softly... slowly... drowning him in pleasure.  
  
The silky strands of her hair splayed over his upper thighs as his gaze opened to the erotic vision of her head bobbing over his lap... of the gripping ring her lips formed around him as they glided up and down, sucking a bit harder, taking him as deep as her comfort level allowed. Time ceased to exist as he reveled in the bliss of her warm mouth. The soft, sucking noises she made crippled his senses as he writhed over the bed. His fists bit into the sheets, nails clawing as a deep groan of husky applause fled his lips.  
  
Lifting off of him, Kim took a deep breath, and then responded in a whisper, "Don't worry, baby. I finish every job I start, pun intended." Winking, she inhaled the hot flesh of his cock once more, now stroking the base hungrily, and with a warm glow of confidence as his face was cursed with pleasure. Her tongue seduced his cock round and round the head, before claiming him fully with a long sucking rhythm that left him writhing at her exquisite skill.   
  
Stroking him eagerly, Kim was relentless in her pursuit of his sweet end, his cock straining in the humid confines of her mouth as his raspy breathing spurred her on. Rising and falling around him, drawing tightly, her cheeks hollowed as she sucked his cock faster until he began shaking. He gasped a warning in a cracked tone that he was so close... so damn close...  
  
Pursing her lips at the head of his cock, Kim whispered, "Let go, baby. I want it." Sucking harder while stroking him, her mouth sent him flying clear over the edge. Tommy grunted her name loudly as the delicious stirring she allowed to simmer suddenly blazed in raw ecstasy. His cock erupted in strong pulses that spurted against her tongue and the roof of her mouth. His back arched wildly, her name fleeing his lips in carnal worship as she never stopped   
sucking. Her hands held down him down while she swallowed greedily, nursing at the tip until she'd gotten every last drop of his seed. Until at last he fell back back on the bed, lungs heaving, thoroughly satisfied.   
  
Grinning wildly while catching her breath, Kim rested her head over his thigh, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. She grazed the back of her hand over her mouth to remove a bit of excess essence. "I'm know I'm pretty awesome, but should I dial Intergalactic 911 for you?" she teased playfully, crossing her legs as her own desire spiked. So overcome he was still shivering, all that Tommy could offer her was a limp thumbs up, even as he was still   
semi-hard. "That was all for you, baby. I love you."  
  
"You're incredible," Tommy exhaled as he felt her sensuously crawling up his body, her rosy nipples brushing over the muscles of his chest. And when she kissed him hard he couldn't think of anything but how deeply he loved her with all that he was. Already he felt the flames of passion reignite as she maneuvered   
above him. His fingers tangled in her silky hair while deepening their lush kiss, drawing greedily around her tongue, devouring the heady taste of the passion they created. He just couldn’t stop touching her as he ripped off her top and threw it in the corner of the room, dying for nothing to be between them. His hands roamed over the soft expanse of her bare back, tracing her smooth skin, his caress easing down her spine. The scent clinging to her skin filled his senses like an irresistible aphrodisiac. She was the balm to his soul, soothing and healing, ever drawing him back from the edge like she had tonight. "Do you have... any idea... what you mean to me?"  
  
Pressing little kisses over his cheek, Kim hummed. "No, tell me."   
  
Filling his hands with the softly-rounded cheeks of her firm backside, squeezing her tight against him as she straddled his lap, Tommy gazed into her beautiful eyes. Far from a wordsmith like Zack, the White Ranger simply spoke from the heart. "You're the most precious person in my life, Kim. I love you so much it scares me, and I need you... God, I need you all the time. And I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love another person."  
  
Beaming down at her boyfriend, Kim had to tease, "Are you sure that's not just the after-effects of the Worlds Greatest BJ I just gave you?"  
  
"No, Beautiful," he groaned when her hips shifted, grinding her slick center along the hard length of him in such a erotic way his heart   
nearly stopped. "I want to love you for the rest of my life, Kim."      
  
Their passion burned hot enough to burn down the whole damn world, but as she stared into his eyes she felt something so powerfully meaningful between   
them. A bond so intense and genuine her eyes grew teary as it swept over her that what they were building was something lasting. She swallowed down the terror of loving someone so much, her courage bolstered by the profound love she felt for him. Her hands framed his handsome face, and then she bent down to brush her lips over his once more, swaying passionately until she ended it with a gentle little nip. "You so obviously want to marry me."   
  
The loving expression he wore was a promise he hoped she understood the depth of. "Maybe, someday."  
  
"Maybe, someday," Kim repeated minus pushing that conversation any further. Shifting over him, she angled the head of his cock to her entrance, and then slowly rocked back, sinking him deeply inside her until she rested over his upper thighs. A small gasp escaped her, catching in the pit of her throat as he filled her so deeply. So full of him her eyes fluttered shut while clenching around the hard column of flesh, loving how much man he was. Her hands braced on his shoulders as she rose high, her knees digging into the bed, and then slid all the way back down until she had taken every inch of him. "Baby, you feel so good."  
  
"... so good," Tommy moaned as she eased up and down over his lap, riding him with long, lazy strokes. Her back arched, and then she tossed her hair back while riding him. The bed creaked in time with her rhythm while his hands held her slender hips, drawing her down. Slick and so snug around him, the hypnotic tempo she rode him with left him in a lustful fog of pleasure. Her face was a erotic mask of passion, lips parted, white teeth bared as she clenched tightly around him on every withdrawal, and then sank back down hard. The way she fucked him was the stuff wet-dreams was made of. The ends of her hair kissed the side of his face as she rode the man she loved with deep thrusts of her hips. Her small breasts softly bounced as she moved over his cock with a maddening rhythm. Lifting his head, his mouth captured a nipple, sucking hard, swirling his tongue round and round. Her urgent grinding on his cock felt better than anything ever had the right to. He was so addicted to her and there would be no getting over that, ever.  
  
"OhGod...Tommy, baby...fuck..." Kim felt the fiery ripples of tension amplified as she rode hard over his lap, straining for her climax, losing herself on how hard he felt and the way he stretched her so deliciously. Warm tension built in her belly, firing off rising sensations as her face twisted in a lust-driven expression. Her blood felt on fire as it coursed through her veins. She fucked him harder, lost in her own pleasure... in what she needed, and then finally grinding her clit against him, she soared to the heavens. A mute roar erupted from throat as the wrenching waves of her white-hot orgasm swept over her so hard, squeezing tightly as pleasure drowned her until she finally slumped over him, trembling, her heart slamming in her chest. Tears of ecstasy wet her eyes, sweat trickling down her back.   
  
Staring at her lovely blush-stained face, her expression so sensual, Tommy held on tight to her hips as after-shocks left her shivering on top of him. His hands skimmed over the soft skin of her sweat-slicked back, the need to caress her out of his control entirely. Brushing soft kisses over the side of her head, his arms embraced her tightly to his chest.  
  
Her heart beating like a war-drum inside her chest, Kim felt him slip from inside her, leaving a damp trail along her inner thigh as he gently rolled her over onto her side, and then maneuvered around to spoon behind her. His fingers traced softly over her thighs before his hand fit behind her knee, lifting her leg while shifting so close his cock slid all the way back inside the slick heat of her body. His hard body lovingly surrounded her from behind, one arm securing her tight  around her waist as every thrust of his hips was captured with a pleasurable collision of their bodies. She rocked back into him, meeting his passion as they moved as one. Big brown eyes met his gaze. "Bout time you did most of the work."  
  
"Hush, Beautiful."  
  
"Hushing," she noted playfully.    
  
While French-kissing the back of her neck, Kim's lust-driven cries coiled around his senses, threatening madness. Tommy watched himself smoothly glide into her while holding her so close, her nipples tight against the palm of his hand as he caressed her breast while thrusting into her. Thrusting against her gorgeous little ass looked as amazing as it felt. The emotional fury she roused was beyond words. Biting his bottom lip against a sharp moan, his hips arched deeply into her, rocking the bed, her slender hips straining back against him as they fucked slow and deep over the sheets. "Never been so good, Beautiful... Fuck, I love you so much."  
  
"Don't stop. Harder..." Her face drenched with pleasure, their breathing was synchronized to the rhythm of their grinding hips, each thrust being met with a husky groan. He was taking her with urgent desperation now - hard, impacting thrusts.. the audible smack of fucking flesh. Each stroke rubbed his cock over her clit, sliding against it. His arm muffled her sobs of ecstasy as she could feel every beat of his heart pulsing over her back. They were mating, all glistening soft skin and thrusting in the dark. The room filled with the rasping sounds of the sheets twisting beneath them as her legs and thighs began to tremble. Her teeth bit into a pillow as his hips pushed her forward, fucking her harder. He was so deep she felt him everywhere. Felt so damn good holding him inside her. Knowing exactly how she liked to be touched, his hand drift down between her legs, his thumb now massaging her swollen clit.  
  
Violently, she was twisting and cumming again in his arms, crying out his name as she tightened repeatedly around the twitching cock bursting hotly inside her. For a brief time they were one, cumming so hard together, grinding out this intense ecstasy they shared.  
  
Short shallow breathes - hers and his -  finally his hips stilled against her, her sex having milked his cock of all that it had to give. She trembled in his arms while he shivered behind her, holding her against him so close.   
  
Smiling in the dark against his arm, Kim felt the pull of sleepiness falling over her quickly. "Love you, baby."  
  
Gently pulling of of her, Tommy drew the covers up over her shoulders. "Now I'm starving." He heard her little chuckle. "You mind if I eat before bed?"  
  
"Not at all." There was a peace and serenity to his face now. To the sound of his voice. To the way he moved. No doubt love making played a part, but she knew how best to take care of his heart. And she knew he would do anything to protect hers. As sleep called her at last and she answered, yawning into her pillow, for that brief moment before she closed her eyes she was sure they had conquered the worst of what life could throw at them.   
  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
  
******  
  
2 Years Earlier  
  
******  
  
  
The Forest of Briarwood  
Sunday, December 31, 2006  
  
  
  
"How the mighty have fallen," echoed quietly as a wind whisper through the dense forest as day swayed gently into nightfall.   
  
Parting the thick green foliage as he ventured further into the depths of the immense woods, the withering old man sought the source of the familiar voice that had spoken to him. Save for the gentle rustle of leaves, his prey was being elusive. "Show yourself, woman. I have no time for ghosts or childish parlor tricks."  
  
"I am neither dead nor truly alive in the widely understood meaning of the term," came an ethereal reply, the soft voice a far contrast from her dark days long ago. "I exist, nonetheless. And now I wish to know why you are here after all this time?"  
  
Coming to a small clearing as the towering, ageless Mountain Ash trees lorded over him, dark eyes rich with hate gazed skyward. His weary, drained body ached with every step he took. Time, undefeated since the dawn of the universe, was at his throat. "You have lost your corporeal body," he noted with no small amount of surprise, his gravely voice the only element left from his past. Wrinkled, elderly fingers brushed over the salt and pepper ruin of his ragged beard as he came to rest upon a splintered tree stump. "I have heard that you took the name Mystic Mother, Empress of all good magic," he snickered   
ever so. "As if a seconds worth of redemption could cleanse the hundreds of years of blood on your hands."  
  
"You are forever blind to its meaning," was her reply as it cascaded through the treetops like a gust of wind, rustling branches through the   
night. "Redemption is earned through effort and sincerity. It has no weight or calculable amount. It is passion made of the character with which you attempt to change. Sadly, your only passion is revenge."  
  
His voice lifted above the tree-tops. "No passion is more justified than revenge in the right time and place."  
  
"And yet ruin follows those that seek it."  
  
He felt out of place here. A man out of time. Out of options. The decrepit state of his dark cloak stood in sharp contrast to who he once was. And would be again. The muscle tensed hard along his jawline as his eyes took in his natural surroundings. Miles upon miles of magic-rich land laid before him. Yes, this place was connected to the Great Power. He could feel it deep down in his bones.  
  
The purity of such magic disgusted him.  
  
"I wish to know how you gained your power."  
  
Of course that was all he cared to know. With him, it had always been about the power. "Your wishes have no place here."  
  
"Your continued existence does," he snarled at her. His impatient stare searched through the fast darkening shadows around him. Moonlit blades of illumination shown down through the bristling treetops. "How did you become the Mystic Mother?"  
  
Suddenly a phantom form of shimmering blue lit the darkness, momentarily driving it back as it settled into being before him. Her mystical attire of white was foreign to his ancient glare. But that face and those brown eyes... He would not ever forget them. Not even unto the end of days.  
  
"Zedd..."  
  
Never mind the sunken skin tinged by age pits that scored his face, the tall man rose from the tree stump to stand before his newly arrived guest. White welted scars adorned his neck and hands as he allowed her a moment to simply look at him for the very first time in eight long, hard years. "Humanity, like Zordon, has not been kind to me."  
  
"When have you ever been kind to it?"  
  
"Zordon trapped me in this fragile form!" he deftly accused, his voice murderous despite the utter lack of power his old body appeared. "Andros brought us to Earth to start over. Do you recall that?"  
  
She gave a slow nod. And even in this ghost-like form, a tingle of fear flowed through her. Truthfully, she had hoped he was dead. The thought of which left no guilt within her. "Andros, with a heavy heart and with full knowledge of our evil past offered us a chance to change."  
  
Zedd's face scowled with pure rage, his fists clenched at his sides. "He offered pity and death! A life devoid of meaning save the same slave mentality all of humanity possessed."  
  
"No," she corrected him. "He offered us the chance to help people. To change and turn away from our dark days. To start over."  
  
With a face of stone, Zedd peered skyward. His gaze seemed to search the stars. "Do you know what became of Goldar?"  
  
"No. He disappeared a few weeks after you did. Although there were rumors he returned to his villainous ways and was now locked away on a cold prison world."  
  
"I was hunted!" Zedd declared venomously, now walking a small circle around her. "Old enemies found out I was far less than I used to be. Space pirates. Bounty hunters. Assassins. Intergalactic gangs now operating on Earth tried to kill me at every turn... they chased me across this accursed country! You will never know the depths I sank to in order to survive."  
  
Her brow rose. "And now you want what, sympathy?"  
  
As close to a smile as he could muster upon a face of nearly eighty years, Zedd faced her. "There are those that say if you could make God bleed then people would cease to believe in him. There will be blood in the water, and then the sharks will come."  
  
Eyes rich with hatred raged at her. His voice blared like thunder. "The sharks all came after me, Rita. They hunted me for years. And all I have done is run. Hide. Sometimes begged and pleaded like a dog! I have slept under expressways and eaten from trash cans and walked until my feet bled. Until I passed out just trying to survive. All done in this old, sick body. All because of Zordon!" he roared.  
  
"Will even one breath of the life you have left be spent on acknowledging your own hand in your fate?"  
  
"Spare me the wisdom of the ages from a woman who once ordered every child in a village burned to death." When her gaze fell Zedd looked confidently on. 'Who did you con, blackmail, or kill to gain your powers?"  
  
"Only you would see those means as the only way to do so," she began. "Unlike you, I embrace a selfless life now. I want to do good for others. I want to give back and try to make up for all the hurt that I have caused. And to that end I was given a chance to change."  
  
"...by whom?"  
  
"It does not matter. The only thing that does is that you are a very old, very angry, very lonely man. You have no legacy to leave behind. No lasting event or deed that offers a glimpse into more than you have been. Why spend your last days chasing the past? Zordon is dead. I am in another place. Goldar is gone. Can you not see find the smallest glimmer of need to change?"  
  
Her words pleaded for a place within him that did not exist. He was cold. So very cold. "Did you miss me?"  
  
Her eyes shut briefly. "I wished to never see you again for as long as I lived."  
  
With his back to her now, Zedd calmly reached into his pocket. "Consider your wish granted. Goodbye dear wife. And thank you for giving me the means to exact my revenge."  
  
Having phased into this new form to assist the Mystic Force Rangers, Rita had not felt pain until this very moment. She had no time to react when Zedd aimed a small circular device at her, its jeweled center beamed a dark light into her chest. Her eyes widened with horror as she attempted to scream in the way she would have if she were flesh and blood. But all sound choked inside her chest as she felt her body burning away... light ashes to the winds... her very essence was being torn apart... the relentless agony so acute she could not make a sound... felt her very soul being taken and transferred into pure power... and then nothing.  
  
All that Zedd felt was a gentle breeze caress his elderly face. Within the palm of his hand rested a powerful artifact that now housed a great deal of magical power. All that the Mystic Mother had once possessed.  And as he pressed it inside his cloak against his heart, that great power sank back into his old body.  
  
Raw, untapped power that was now his to command once more!  
  
But it was not enough and he knew it. Not nearly enough. Not yet.  
  
Sparing a last glance at the spot his ex-wife stood just moments ago, he considered the moment's true meaning. To no one but himself, he whispered, "I will bring ruin to Zordon's legacy and crucify every single one of his Rangers. When next we meet, they will know they have stared into the face of death. And then I will make the galaxy tremble.."  
  
"My Lord?"  
  
Zedd did not turn to his new emissary. Cloaked in a dark hooded robe similar to his own, he stayed back just as he was commanded too. "It is done."  
  
"Your will, sire," the emissary bowed his head in reverence. "What is next?"  
  
"I must venture off-world across the stars. I seek a weapon I have heard whispers about that is capable of hurtling asteroids... I now possess the power to take such a weapon!"  
  
"And what of me, my Lord?"  
  
"Your world requires your guidance. Your influence... Continue as planned. The time draws near that my vengeance shall desecrate my enemies... as they say on Earth, like a thief in the night."   
  
  
******  
  
  
******  
  
  
The End of Chapter 3  
  
Chapter 4: Girls Night Out turns into an Antartica adventure. Lord Zedd draws ever closer. Billy discovers Trini's secret.

**Author's Note:**

> Authors Notes: Be on the lookout for my new Kindle stories under the name "seanbecks" Keep an eye on my profile page for updates and previews.


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